If you dislike AI, you’ll hate what might be happening to Google Chrome soon

Google has been in a precarious situation for quite a while, as the company might just be forced to sell off its super popular Chrome browser soon. To get ahead of the competition, Perplexity AI has made a whopping $34.5 billion offer for Chrome, in a move that makes it all too clear what the company’s next focus is.Perplexity AI already has a browser of its own named Comet, but you may never have heard of it. That’s because, unfortunately for AI companies, most users still find modern Artificial Intelligence more of a nuisance that they’d rather avoid. Perplexity’s mouthwatering bid for Google Chrome is its attempt to propel itself in front of the eyes of the mainstream consumer base.

The AI company also says that it will not make any major changes to Chrome, as it wants users to still feel like the browser is what they’re familiar with. Perplexity isn’t the only AI-focused company that’s considering buying Chrome: OpenAI is thinking of doing the same, with similar motives in mind.

There is also contention over how much Chrome should actually be sold for if Google decides to take one of these companies up on their offer. One analyst said that the bid “vastly undervalues” the browser, while industry insider Mark Gurman believes that Chrome is worthless without its user base.

Of course, the biggest problem with Perplexity or OpenAI acquiring Chrome is the fact that most people just don’t like having to use AI. Perplexity might make the assistance of AI optional at first, but how many people would want to stick around for when that doesn’t remain a choice anymore?

A Chrome browser owned by OpenAI or Perplexity seems to me like it would become very unpopular, very fast. Fortunately, for now at least, you might be safe for a while longer. Google plans to appeal the ruling which will force it to sell its iconic browser, and even if that doesn’t go through, it will slightly delay the process.

In the end, however, Chrome is absolutely going to see massive changes to how it works pretty soon.