Perplexity Makes Big Moves: Comet vs Google, Airtel Launch, CEO’s Bold Predictions
July 17, 2025
Perplexity AI—valued at around $14 billion and processing 780 million queries in May—dominated headlines again. From its bold stance against Google’s AI strategy to a major telecom partnership in India, and strategic guidance for the startup world, here’s the latest on the trailblazing “answer engine.”
Airtel–Perplexity Pro Partnership (India Only)
Bharti Airtel today announced a groundbreaking deal offering free one-year access to Perplexity Pro—worth ₹17,000 (approx. US $205)—to its 360 million mobile, broadband, and DTH customers.
Unlimited Pro searches
Access to GPT‑4.1, Claude, image-generation, file uploads, and more
Enables features like Pro mode, model selection, priority support, file analysis, and image creation
Offer Timeline:
Valid for Airtel prepaid & postpaid users through the “Airtel Thanks” app
Available until January 17, 2026
This marks Perplexity’s first full-year telecom collaboration in India, greatly boosting its footprint in one of the world’s most dynamic markets.
Perplexity’s CEO Takes Aim at Google
Today, in a Reddit AMA, CEO Aravind Srinivas criticized Google’s inability to fully commit to AI agent‑driven browsing. He said Google must “embrace one path and suffer” to stay competitive, highlighting that per-click ad revenue models conflict with the rise of autonomous AI agents like Perplexity’s Comet browser.
Key quotes from Srinivas:
“They have business model constraints on letting agents do the clicks…”
“…Google’s resistance is driven by protecting ad revenue.”
He also called out Google’s internal “bureaucratic structure,” contrasted with Perplexity’s “nimble and fast” approach. The Comet browser, launched July 9, is available by invitation at $200/month, with a free tier coming soon.
Built on Chromium, Comet brings AI directly into browsing—summarizing content, automating workflows, and enhancing productivity via its “sidecar” feature. The long-term vision: evolve browsers into personalized digital assistants.
AI Talent War & Founders Advice
In today’s Decoder podcast, Srinivas compared the fierce competition for AI talent to NBA free agency—only a few elite researchers hold real bargaining power.
“Companies must offer more than pay—mission and meaningful work matter.”
At last week’s Y Combinator AI Startup School, he also warned new founders that Big Tech will “copy anything that’s good,” urging startups to innovate continuously and anticipate imitation.
Internal Boosts: Productivity & Team Culture
Perplexity engineers recently adopted AI‑coding tools like GitHub Copilot. Srinivas told Entrepreneur these tools slashed development tasks—from multi‑day jobs to just one hour—and drove May’s 780M queries with 20% MoM growth.
Facing Legal & Tech Challenges
Perplexity, home to about 700 employees, is navigating legal headwinds: copyright lawsuits from major media (BBC, NYT, Dow Jones), a trademark dispute, and concerns over scraping and robots.txt compliance.
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