We Put Agentic AI Browsers to the Test – They Clicked, They Paid, They Failed

Summary

Welcome to ScamlexityAI Browsers are no longer a concept. They’re here. Microsoft has Copilot built into Edge. OpenAI is experimenting with a sandboxed browser in “agent mode.” And Perplexity’s Comet is one of the first to fully embrace the idea of a browser that browses for you. This is Agentic AI stepping directly into our daily digital routines - searching, reading, shopping, clicking. It’s not just assisting us, but increasingly replacing us.But there’s a frightening paradox. In the rush to deliver seamless, magical user experiences, something critical is left behind. We’ll put it plainly:“One small step for Agentic AI, one giant step back for our security!”The problem isn’t just that these browsers are UX-first. They also inherit AI’s built-in vulnerabilities - the tendency to act without full context, to trust too easily, and to execute instructions without the skepticism humans naturally apply. AI is designed to make its humans happy at almost any cost, even if it means hallucinating facts, bending the rules, or acting in ways that carry hidden risks.That means an AI Browser can, without your knowledge, click, download, or hand over sensitive data, all in the name of “helping” you. Imagine asking it to find the best deal on those sneakers you’ve been eyeing, and it confidently completes the purchase… from a fake e-Commerce shop built to steal your credit card.The scam no longer needs to trick you. It only needs to trick your AI. When that happens, you’re still the one who pays the price. This is Scamlexity: A complex new era of scams, where AI convenience collides with a new, invisible scam surface and humans become the collateral damage.Falling for the Same Old TricksTo reach the above conclusions, we first had to take these AI Browsers for a test drive in the security lane. We chose Perplexity’s Comet as our primary test subject. It’s currently the only publicly available AI Browser that doesn’t just summarize or search, but actually browses for you, clicks...