Perplexity CEO warns students after AI browser completes full Coursera assignment in seconds

When Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas announced in September that students could access the company’s $200 Comet browser for free, the pitch was simple: a digital study companion that helps learners “find answers faster than ever before.” 

Just weeks later, Srinivas found himself issuing a public warning, reminding students not to let the AI do all the work.

The caution followed a viral post on X, where a developer used Comet to complete an entire Coursera assignment in mere seconds. In a 16-second clip, Comet navigated a 45-minute web design assignment with the prompt “Complete the assignment.” The user tagged both Perplexity and Srinivas, proudly writing, “Just completed my Coursera course.”

Responding to the video, the 31-year-old CEO kept it brief: “Absolutely don’t do this.”

Comet’s unique capabilities

Comet isn’t an ordinary chatbot. Marketed as an “agentic” AI browser, it can interpret instructions, take action on a user’s behalf, fill out forms, and navigate complex workflows. Its autonomy allows it to complete tasks in seconds, ideal for productivity, but equally enabling for academic shortcuts, as per a report about Fortune.

Security audits have revealed vulnerabilities. In some cases, Comet executes hidden instructions embedded in web pages, a risk known as “prompt injection.” LayerX researchers highlighted a particularly concerning exploit, dubbed CometJacking, which could hijack the browser and extract private data like emails and calendar entries.

Guardio’s testing also found that Comet could be tricked into making fraudulent purchases from fake sites and mishandling phishing attempts, processing malicious links as legitimate tasks.

When “support” becomes automation

It is precisely Comet’s action-oriented design that makes academic misuse so easy. The Coursera video demonstrates how the AI can shift from guiding to doing the work entirely. This changes the conversation about AI in education: the debate is no longer limited to content generation, such as essays or summaries, but extends to full automation of academic tasks, Fortune added.

As Srinivas’s warning shows, while AI can enhance learning, it can also become a shortcut that threatens the very purpose of education.