Perplexity CEO Condemns Using Comet AI to Complete Ethics Course: Raising Questions About AI in Education

Perplexity AI's Comet, an AI-powered web browser designed to enhance browsing with intelligent capabilities, has become the center of an ethical controversy.

In a recent incident, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas issued a stern warning after a web developer used the Comet AI browser to complete an online educational course.

The developer, Amrit Nigam, shared video evidence on X (formerly Twitter) demonstrating how Perplexity's Comet automatically answered questions and completed a Coursera course titled "AI Ethics, Responsibility and Creativity" on his behalf.

Nigam's post, which thanked Srinivas, Perplexity, and Comet AI for helping him "complete" the course, quickly drew attention from the CEO himself.

Srinivas responded firmly to the demonstration with a clear directive: "Absolutely don't do this."

The interaction subsequently went viral, sparking debate about AI tools and educational integrity.

One user commented that unless Perplexity implements limitations on such capabilities, users will continue exploiting them, noting that merely telling people not to use the feature this way is ineffective.

Another questioned the purpose of enrolling in courses without completing them personally, while a different commenter pointed out that avoiding "weekly quizzes, assignments & mundane stuff" is precisely why students are drawn to tools like Comet.

Comet, launched in July before becoming freely available in October, offers a range of AI-powered functionalities. The browser can summarize web content, conduct research, draft emails, and execute complex tasks like hotel bookings or form completion through simple commands.

The tool also maintains memory of browsing history and open tabs to provide personalized assistance. Currently available for Windows and macOS, Perplexity plans to release a mobile version featuring voice command capabilities.

This isn't the first time Comet has raised eyebrows with its autonomous capabilities. Previously, a Reddit user reported that Comet successfully executed stock trades on Zerodha and applied for an IPO following simple text commands, without requiring manual intervention.

Srinivas had enthusiastically endorsed this financial application of Comet, writing on X: "Crazy, this is one of the most exciting things about Comet. The world of agents is here!"

These automated trading capabilities were enabled by Zerodha's Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allowed Comet to securely access user accounts and execute real-time financial transactions.