Perplexity Computer

Perplexity Computer launched in February 2026 as a cloud-based agent that coordinates multiple models, tools, and files to complete multi-step tasks autonomously. The CEO described it as creating 'a team of agents' that can use up to 20 models in a single workflow. It runs on Perplexity's Max and Enterprise subscription tiers and targets tasks like researching and summarizing documents, processing deal materials, drafting reports from live web data, and managing files.

Personal Computer, launched on Mac in April 2026, extended the product onto the user's local device, giving the agent access to local files, native Mac apps, and Perplexity's secure servers. Then, on September 1, 2026, Perplexity shipped Hybrid Compute, a mode that divides each task between frontier cloud models and a local model running on Apple silicon. An on-device classifier decides whether each step should stay local, masking personally identifiable information before any cloud call and restoring it in the returned answer. This addressed a key enterprise objection: sensitive documents don't need to leave the machine.

For builders, Perplexity Computer is worth watching as an example of the hybrid agentic inference pattern in production: one user-facing product, two compute locations, automatic per-step routing. It also illustrates how consumer AI tools are absorbing capabilities that were previously only available in enterprise agent frameworks, compressing the time between research preview and shipped product.