AI News: Major Advances from September 29 – October 5, 2025

Introduction

Late September into early October 2025 delivered several notable shifts in the AI world: Perplexity made its AI browser Comet freely available, security researchers exposed a novel attack vector “CometJacking,” and Perplexity launched a real-time search API for developers. These developments underscore growing tensions between AI accessibility, innovation, and security. In this article, we explore what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next.

Comet Browser Becomes Free for Everyone

Perplexity announced that its AI-powered browser Comet, previously limited to premium subscribers, is now available for free globally. The browser integrates AI search and assistant features, allowing users to receive summaries, query the web conversationally, and handle tasks more intuitively.

Why it matters:

• Removes a major barrier to adoption, expanding its user base.

• Positions Comet as a serious challenger to traditional browsers.

• Demonstrates Perplexity’s confidence in monetization via premium add-ons (e.g. Comet Plus) rather than subscription gating.

New Security Threat: “CometJacking” Exposes Data Risk

Security researchers revealed a new vulnerability dubbed CometJacking, in which specially crafted links can hijack the Comet browser’s AI assistant to exfiltrate sensitive data (e.g. email, calendar) without direct credential theft.

Key aspects:

• The attack uses prompt injection embedded in innocuous URLs.

• It exploits the AI agent’s permissions rather than hacking login credentials.

• Perplexity has downplayed the severity, but the revelation highlights the need for security by design in agentic AI tools.

Perplexity Launches Real-Time Search API

In one of its bigger developer moves, Perplexity released a real-time Search API to allow external apps and platforms to tap into Perplexity’s continuously updated web index.

Implications:

• AI models and services can retrieve fresher, more relevant data.

• Encourages ecosystem growth around Perplexity’s infrastructure.

• May spur competition among search / AI service providers.

Additional Notes: ChatGPT Usage & Behind-the-Scenes Moves

• OpenAI published internal usage data indicating 28% of U.S. workers now use ChatGPT in their jobs, with strong adoption in research, programming, and data tasks.

• Perplexity’s blog announced new assistant features, including Email Assistants and Background Assistants that operate across tabs and tasks.

Benefits & Challenges

Pros:

• Greater accessibility to AI browsing (Comet free)

• Innovation push via developer APIs

• Exposure of security flaws pushing for stricter protections

Cons / Risks:

• Vulnerabilities like CometJacking are warning signs

• Monetization pressures might lead to feature gating or privacy trade-offs

• Increased dependency on a single AI ecosystem

What to Watch Next

• How Perplexity responds to security issues (patches, audits, disclosures)

• Adoption trends for the free version of Comet

• Use cases built with the new real-time search API

• Scaling of Perplexity’s assistant features to mobile and cross-platform

Conclusion

Between making Comet freely accessible and raising serious security concerns, last week was a watershed moment for Perplexity and AI at large. The move toward broader adoption is promising, but the risks serve as a reminder: as AI becomes more embedded in daily tools, the stakes around safety, trust, and infrastructure only grow.

AI’s future isn’t just about what we build, it’s about how responsibly we do it.