Perplexity's AI browser could replace these 2 key office roles
What's the story
Perplexity, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, recently launched Comet, an AI-powered browser. The company's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, has now revealed in a recent interview with The Verge's "Decoder" podcast that the browser could potentially replace two key office roles. The roles in question are those of administrative assistants and recruiters, two positions that are essential to any modern workplace.
AI advancement
Comet as a recruiter
Srinivas detailed how Comet's integrated AI agent can access apps like Google Calendar, LinkedIn, and Gmail to perform tasks usually done by recruiters. These include creating candidate lists, finding contact information, and sending personalized outreach emails. He also hinted at the future potential of Comet becoming an AI operating system for white-collar workers that could execute commands from natural language prompts.
Task automation
How it helps executive assistants
Comet is also capable of handling a lot of an executive assistant's daily responsibilities, such as calendar management, meeting preparation, and email triage. "A recruiter's work worth one week is just one prompt: sourcing and reach outs," Srinivas said. He further explained that Comet could follow up with candidates, update their status on Google Sheets, sync with Google Calendar to resolve conflicts, and schedule chats.
User access
Comet is available for paying customers
Currently, Comet is available only to Perplexity's paying customers. However, the company has also opened invites for free users who will get access to the AI-powered product in due time. Some of the AI-powered agentic tasks could be under a paywall. Srinivas expressed optimism that users would be willing to pay for Comet in the long run because of its functionality.
Job impact
Will AI replace or augment jobs?
The emergence of Comet has sparked a debate among tech leaders about the role of AI in job replacement versus augmentation. While some believe that within five years, AI could replace 50% of entry-level positions, others see it as an augmentation tool. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy advised employees to learn, attend workshops, get trained on and use, and play with AI wherever possible to avoid their white-collar jobs being cut by generative AI.