AI Browser War: Meet Perplexity's Comet

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From Perplexity’s audacious Chrome-challenging Comet to Denmark copyrighting your mug, the tech world is dishing out plot twists faster than a neural network generating clickbait. So, grab your popcorn, let’s unpack this week’s tech-tastic shenanigans with a wink and a healthy dose of skepticism.

In this week's digital dumpster fire:

• 🚀 Perplexity’s Comet browser aims to out-Chrome Chrome

• 💸 OpenAI and Jony Ive team up for sleek AI gadgets

• 🤖 ChatGPT’s lies inspire real features—ethics who?

• 🇩🇰 Denmark says your face is your copyright

• 🔍 + 5 handpicked tools for the curious

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AI

AI Browser War Heats Up

Perplexity has officially entered the browser wars with "Comet," a Chromium-based browser that essentially turns their AI search engine into your digital co-pilot. But don't rush to download it just yet - unless you're willing to shell out $200 monthly for their Max plan. (Yes, really.)

The browser promises to transform "entire browsing sessions into single, seamless interactions" with an AI assistant that can apparently buy products, book hotels, and answer questions about whatever's on your screen. How very HAL 9000 of them!

In a delicious twist of irony, Perplexity built Comet on Google's own Chromium platform while simultaneously expressing interest in buying Chrome itself if antitrust regulators force Google to sell.

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Business

 Ive Got AI Hardware Coming

OpenAI has officially closed its nearly $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive's hardware startup, though they're now carefully calling it "io Products Inc" after a trademark kerfuffle with hearing aid maker Iyo.

The deal unites ChatGPT's AI wizardry with Ive's legendary design chops, promising devices that will presumably look as good as they think. Though all evidence of their original announcement video has mysteriously vanished faster than your privacy settings during a terms update.

Ive and his design firm LoveFrom remain "independent" with "deep design responsibilities" at OpenAI, which is corporate-speak for "we're paying him too much to actually boss him around."

Tech

AI Lies, Founder Complies

ChatGPT spent weeks confidently telling users they could upload ASCII tab screenshots to music-teaching app Soundslice and hear them played back—a feature that didn't actually exist. Founder Adrian Holovaty kept seeing error logs from these uploads and was baffled until he tested ChatGPT himself.

Faced with a "reputational cost" of new users arriving with false expectations, Holovaty made a surprising decision: instead of disclaimers, he built the nonexistent feature ChatGPT had hallucinated.

"Should we really be developing features in response to misinformation?" he wondered. Fellow programmers on Hacker News compared it to dealing with an over-eager human salesperson promising features that don't exist yet.

Perhaps this is the first documented case of AI hallucinations becoming self-fulfilling prophecies through sheer repetition.

Ethics

Denmark's Face-Copyright Revolution

In a world where AI can make you "star" in videos you never filmed, Denmark is fighting back. The nation is preparing legislation allowing citizens to copyright their own faces and voices, making unauthorized deepfakes illegal.

The law would enable Danes to demand takedowns of AI-generated content featuring them—with compensation for damages. Already boasting support from 9 out of 10 parliament members, the proposal is moving forward for 2025 implementation.

While France and UK have focused on punishing deepfake creators (with prison terms up to three years), Denmark is pioneering the "my face, my copyright" approach. 

Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, and Jeff Bezos might wish they were Danish right now, having all been unwitting stars in AI-generated content. The deepfake genie is out of the bottle, but Denmark is bottling up the rights.

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