The 31-year-old Perplexity CEO was horrified after being flagged by a student using his free AI browser to cheat: ‘Never do this’

The warning came after a post on X Show a developer using Comet to complete the entire project Coursera The job is done in seconds. In the 16-second clip, Comet completes what appears to be a 45-minute web design task with the prompt “Complete task.” The user proudly tagged both Perplexity and Srinivas, writing, “Just completed my Coursera course.”

The 31-year-old CEO He responded To the video with just four words: “Don’t ever do this.”

Srinivas’s brief public rebuke goes as follows: Artificial intelligence is seeping deeper into the classroom Technology companies aggressively market their products to students under the banner of “supporting learning.” Perplexity’s free student offer joins a wave of similar initiatives from companies such as Google, Microsoftand Anthropic– They all promote their robots as teachers, study buddies, or productivity boosters.

But teachers say these tools are being used increasingly Bypass learning completely. Many students use AI simply to create essays, take quizzes, or automate entire courses, undermining the very skills these platforms claim to foster.

Comet, in particular, is well-equipped to do students’ work for them — it’s not your average chatbot. Designed by Perplexity as what they call an AI “agent” browser, it’s designed to do more than just speak text: it can interpret your instructions, take actions on your behalf, click, fill out forms, and navigate complex workflows. This level of autonomy allows Comet to execute missions in seconds, but also introduces new risks when deployed.

protection Audits From Brave and Guardio they reported serious vulnerabilities. In some cases, Comet can execute hidden instructions embedded in the content of a web page, essentially allowing “instant injection” attacks that bypass intended behavior. A particularly disturbing case, dubbed CometJacking By researchers at LayerX, it allows a crafted URL to hijack the browser and make it filter private data such as emails and calendar entries.

In Guardio’s audits, Comet Deceived In making fraudulent purchases from fake sites – completing entire checkouts without human verification. It also mishandled phishing scenarios: when presented with malicious links disguised as legitimate requests, the AI ​​treated them as valid ones.

Meanwhile, Comet’s capabilities are precisely what makes it so useful in academic cheating scenarios. It’s designed for business, not just advice, which means ‘study support’ can turn into ‘doing the work for you’. This shift is evident in a Coursera video that reframes most discussions of AI in education: it is no longer just about creating content (articles or summaries), but about automation in form and function.