Perplexity's $200 Ai Browser Is Free For Students Now - With More Discounts To Keep Using It

2 days ago

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

Perplexity is offering students 1 free period of Perplexity Pro.
The institution is positioning Comet arsenic "study buddy, and tutor."
AI is quickly becoming a fixture successful nan classroom.

Like it aliases not, artificial intelligence is becoming a fixture successful nan classroom. This is being pushed on astatine a brisk gait by tech companies eager to get their products into nan hands of millions of students.

On Thursday, Perplexity became nan latest AI developer to connection a back-to-school special: Students tin entree one free month of Comet, nan company's AI-centered web browsing level that debuted successful July to rival Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. The browser is presently disposable done Perplexity Pro, which costs $200 annually.

Also: Some teachers are utilizing AI to people their students, Anthropic finds - why that matters

On its website, Perplexity called Comet "a 24/7 sidekick, study buddy, and tutor." The browser comes pinch immoderate features designed to boost its entreaty among students, including Study Mode and interactive flash cards that tin beryllium generated from uploaded study materials.

To unlock nan offer, users request to verify their student position via Perplexity's website. They'll past unlock 1 free period of Perplexity Pro. They'll beryllium granted an further free period of entree for each student they mention to nan deal. After nan proceedings ends, students tin proceed subscribing to Perplexity Pro for $4.99/mo -- a 75% discount.

Perplexity is besides trying to dispersed nan connection astir its caller browser done a one-year free proceedings of Perplexity Pro for PayPal and Venmo users successful prime countries.

Back to schoolhouse (AI edition)

Amid concerns that easy entree to generative AI devices will dampen captious reasoning skills and different inhibit education, AI companies person been offering a compromise: We'll proceed pushing our products into nan classroom, but those products will really facilitate learning.

The AI-powered penning level Grammarly, for example, precocious released a suite of AI agents marketed to some moving professionals and students. Those agents, which see a plagiarism-checker bot and different that will proofread your work, are intended to service arsenic automated penning assistants -- not doing each of nan activity for you, but doing conscionable capable to prosecute your penning skills and, successful theory, thief you to improve.

Also: PayPal and Venmo users get free twelvemonth of Perplexity Pro and Comet AI browser

Just really good these student-facing initiatives from nan likes of Perplexity and Grammarly execute remains to beryllium seen. Like nan emergence of nan smartphone, caller AI devices will astir apt person immoderate benefits upon learning (for example, by making overmuch much accusation instantly available), while different effects could move retired to beryllium much cognitively impairing. (Many of america struggle to get from points A to B these days without utilizing our phones to thief america retrieve directions and navigate.)

AI companies person besides targeted teachers, galore of whom person begun using generative AI devices astatine work. In July, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic announced a cumulative $23 cardinal finance successful the National Center for AI Instruction, a caller training halfway successful New York City wherever educators tin study really to incorporated AI responsibly into their school practices.