Perplexity launches Personal Computer, an AI agent that runs 24/7 on your Mac mini

Perplexity's Personal Computer turns your spare Mac into an AI agent

Perplexity wants to be more than just an answer engine. On Wednesday it launched Personal Computer, a new AI agent tool that can turn a spare Mac into a locally run AI system, pitching it as "a digital proxy for you." Personal Computer will run 24/7 on a dedicated device on your local network, have full access to your files and apps, and be controllable from anywhere and on any device, Perplexity said. That deeper access makes it a more personalized version of a similar product Perplexity launched last month, Perplexity Computer, a cluster of agents it described as a "general-purpose digital worker." Perplexity pitches the system as more secure than other agent systems like OpenClaw, offering users a "full audit trail" and the ability to reverse actions or approve sensitive actions before they're performed. There's also a kill switch, which I imagine would be useful if it went rogue and started speed deleting emails. Personal Computer is not yet available -- Perplexity says potential users will need to join a waitlist to get early access, though has not indicated when the service will go live. Like Perplexity Computer, Personal Computer is primarily aimed at professional use, part of the company's broader strategy of positioning itself as a specialized tool. In a video demonstration, Perplexity shows a user treating Personal Computer as a virtual assistant -- typing and speaking prompts to have it draft emails to investors, turn reports into slide decks, and rank candidates for a job. But Personal Computer clearly hints at broad consumer appeal as well, particularly being positioned as something that can run on consumer-grade devices. Perplexity says the software will run on a Mac Mini -- a popular device among AI agent enthusiasts -- but it's unclear what other hardware and platforms are supported. In a sprawling X post, CEO Aravind Srinivas ambitiously suggests the product could help a single person build a billion dollar company by overcoming the "single biggest disadvantage" people have: sleep. "It never sleeps. It's personal and more powerful than any AI system ever launched."

Perplexity turns your Mac mini into a 24/7 AI agent

At its first developer conference, held in a former North Beach church, Perplexity unveiled Personal Computer, expanded its cloud agent to enterprise, opened up finance data tools, and staked its identity on a single claim: AI is the computer now. Two weeks after launching Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent that can orchestrate 20 frontier models to execute multi-step workflows autonomously, the company used its inaugural Ask 2026 developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday to dramatically widen the platform's reach. The centrepiece of announcement is Personal Computer: software that runs continuously on a user-supplied Mac mini, merging local files, apps, and sessions with Perplexity's cloud-based Computer system. The idea is to give the AI persistent, always-on access to everything on your machine, Gmail, Slack, GitHub, Notion, Salesforce, so it can monitor triggers, execute proactive tasks, and carry work forward around the clock without requiring the user to be present. Sensitive actions require explicit approval, every session generates a full audit trail, and a kill switch gives users immediate control. Personal Computer is software, not hardware. Perplexity is not manufacturing a device. The Mac mini acts as the always-on host; Perplexity's platform connects to it remotely and can be controlled from any device. Access is restricted to Perplexity Max subscribers, the company's highest tier, priced at $200 per month, which includes 10,000 monthly compute credits, and will be Mac-only at launch. A waitlist is now open; Perplexity says it will provide support for the initial cohort. CEO Aravind Srinivas framed the product's ambition at the conference: "A traditional operating system takes instructions; an AI operating system takes objectives." The conference itself was held inside a former church in San Francisco's North Beach neighbourhood, a setting that seemed deliberate. Beyond Personal Computer, Perplexity is also bringing its Computer platform to enterprise customers. The enterprise version adds SOC 2 Type II compliance, SAML single sign-on, audit logs, and isolated sandboxing for each query. It connects natively to Snowflake, Salesforce, HubSpot, and hundreds of other enterprise platforms, allowing teams to query data warehouses, pull CRM context, and build financial models without waiting on a data or analytics team. Enterprise teams can also interact with Computer directly inside Slack, via direct message or shared channel. Perplexity's internal usage data, cited by VentureBeat, illustrates the model-agnostic positioning that underpins the whole Computer strategy: in January 2025, 90% of enterprise queries routed to just two AI models; by December 2025, no single model accounted for more than 25% of usage. The company is explicitly betting that enterprises will increasingly demand access to whichever model is best for a given task, rather than committing to a single provider's stack. The conference also brought a significant expansion to Perplexity Finance. The company says 75% of its users already ask finance-related questions each month, and Computer now has direct access to more than 40 live data tools pulling from SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global, Coinbase, LSEG, and Quartr, among others. No additional licence or API key is required, and every figure is traceable to its source. Computer can use these tools to build interactive dashboards, Excel models, and full financial applications. For developers, Perplexity announced new APIs at the conference, though the company's blog post does not detail their full scope. The February launch of Perplexity Computer had already included a usage-based API; this expansion appears to deepen the developer surface area, consistent with the conference's purpose as a developer-facing event. Perplexity's core challenge, articulated clearly by Axios, is convincing customers to pay $200 per month to a company that does not build its own frontier models, when they could go directly to OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google. The answer Perplexity is betting on is orchestration: not any single model, but the harness that deploys all of them intelligently. VentureBeat puts the company's annualised revenue at approximately $148 million as of mid-2025, against an internal target of $656 million by end-2026, a figure that would require roughly 230% growth.

Perplexity's Personal Computer is a cloud-based AI agent running on Mac mini - 9to5Mac

Apple's Mac mini is back in the AI headlines. Last month, Perplexity released its own version of the OpenClaw "personal AI assistant" idea with a feature called Perplexity Computer. Now the company is taking the concept a step further with an implementation it calls Personal Computer. This version "works with a Mac mini that runs continuously, merging your local applications with Perplexity Computer." Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas announced Personal Computer with an X article: Today we're bringing Computer to enterprise and mobile. The same orchestration engine now runs inside your company and your phone. [...] Today we announced Personal Computer. It's a persistent digital proxy for you. It's in a secure environment and controllable from any device, anywhere. It works with a Mac mini that runs continuously, merging your local applications with Perplexity Computer. It runs on Perplexity's secure servers. Every sensitive action requires your approval, every action is logged in a full audit trail, and there's a kill switch. And you control the personal computer from anywhere, while the computer works from your desktop. Perplexity also has a video that shows off Personal Computer in action: While Perplexity is announcing Personal Computer today, potential users will need to join a waitlist first before gaining access. This is just the latest example of Apple's Mac mini becoming the AI cloud computer of choice. Later this year, Apple will begin manufacturing some Mac mini computrers in the United States for the first time.

Perplexity's Personal Computer is a Mac mini running an AI OS

The system includes user approval requirements for sensitive actions and full audit trails, though specific Mac mini configurations and pricing remain undisclosed. While AI companies turn to powerful Nvidia GPUs for high-end AI workloads, at-home enthusiasts are consistently turning to an unlikely PC maker for their AI needs. On Wednesday, Perplexity announced Personal Computer, an AI agent that "runs continuously, merging your local applications with Perplexity Computer." The system runs on Perplexity's "secure servers," but what hardware does it all run on? An M4 Mac mini. Perplexity explains that its Personal Computer "works in a secure environment with clear safeguards. Sensitive actions require approval, and every session includes a full audit trail. A kill switch gives users immediate control." The platform was built on Perplexity's existing foundation and ensures that every query runs in its own "secure sandbox." It's not the first time Apple's tiny PC made headlines as an AI tool. In January, social media was overrun with people running the free, open-source AI assistant Clawdbot on stacks of Mac minis before Anthropic killed the buzz. Perplexity calls Personal Computer "more powerful than any AI system ever launched." We don't know yet which Mac mini it will be running on, but we assume it has the maximum RAM (64GB on the M4 Pro) model and a giant hard drive. It's also unclear whether Apple is supplying the company with Mac minis or whether Perplexity is simply using off-the-shelf units. It's also not clear how Perplexity is selling this system, as there's simply a waitlist with no pricing information. It's worth noting that there have been strong rumors that Apple will be launching a new M5 Mac mini imminently, and the announcement doesn't mention the chip or configuration of the machine.

'AI is the Computer': Perplexity reveals Personal Computer, a cloud-based AI agent running on your Mac

* Personal Computer is designed to be your personal assistant with access to all your tools * It's installed on a Mac mini with access to 20 frontier models and more * The enterprise productivity gains could be immense, Perplexity says Perplexity has launched the groundbreaking notion of a 'Personal Computer', which offers users a highly integrated AI-backed personal assistant directly within the macOS interface. The multi-model system uses 20 frontier models, AI search and agentic internet access. In its announcement, Perplexity suggests AI itself becomes the computer, capable of understanding goals, using tools and doing work autonomously. "Personal Computer runs on a dedicated Mac mini that can run 24/7, connected to your local apps and Perplexity's secure servers," the company noted. Perplexity wants to make your Mac mini your personal assistant Perplexity's Personal Computer acts as a digital proxy, which can be accessed and controlled from any device anywhere. The company stressed that safeguards, like a kill switch for immediate shutdown in the event of rogue behavior and audit trails, are all built-in. The announcement comes among the growing popularity of OpenClaw, another personal assistant that users are installing on Mac minis. And for enterprise-grade customers, the company also promises to integrate with third-party software like Snowflake, Salesforce and HubSpot via app connectors. The Comet Enterprise browser also serves as an AI-first browser for business customers, with Perplexity recognizing that most of today's work is accessed online. Perplexity claims to have saved $1.6m in labor costs, and done 3.25 years' worth of work in just four weeks using this tool. Four of the APIs that power Personal Computer - Search, Agent, Embeddings and Sandbox - are also being made available for developers. To further improve accuracy across some of the most common workflows Perplexity claims to observe, the company is also adding Premium Sources for accurate, up-to-date information, partnering with the likes of Statista, CB Insights and Pitchbook. Other live data sources, including SEC filings, S&P Global, Coinbase, LSEG and more will enhance financial accuracy. Perplexity's Personal Computer is now accepting prospective users via a waitlist. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

AppleInsider.com

Perplexity is bringing its AI closer to its users, with a new Personal Computer that combines its agentic AI platform with a Mac mini's local applications. This may be too much AI for some people. At the end of February, Perplexity rolled out Perplexity Computer, a so-called digital worker that uses the same software stack and other sub-agents just like a person would. That concept has now been expanded to run more locally to the user. Announced via a meandering and navel-gazing X post by Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the Personal Computer is a version of Perplexity Computer that handles things on a nearby computer. Srinivas directly name-checks the Mac mini as a platform it could run on, with the entire thing able to merge both the work of Perplexity Computer and a user's local files. This is a concept that may seem familiar to AI observers, and follows after a wave of popularity for Apple's compact Mac. Perplexing agents Perplexity Computer is, effectively, an AI that is a go-between for other AIs. Instead of issuing specific instructions to multiple AIs, you provide the general outcome of the task to Perplexity Computer. Perplexity Computer then breaks down the task into subtasks, which it then provides to sub-agents to do the actual work. In effect, you're talking to a project manager, who then delegates the task to other AIs, before combining the results and presenting them to you. The managing AI has a lot more freedom in how it orders its subordinates than users may think. While one may create documents while another gathers data, the manager may go as far as to order the creation of software to complete its tasks. Personal Computer is an extension of this, in that it is a locally run app that ideally runs on a Mac mini. The app gives always-on, local access to the Mac's files and apps, which Perplexity Computer and the Comet Assistant can use and alter if required. For example, if you have a stack of photographs in a folder on your desktop and you want to have them presented on a website, those images could be analyzed on the user's behalf by Perplexity Computer for the task. Those same files could also be altered, such as being renamed in a specific way or resized for web use, all without the user specifying the changes. Srinivas insists that while the Personal Computer element runs continuously on the Mac, the AI processing part of Perplexity Computer will still run on Perplexity's "secure servers." Sensitive actions will still require user approval, he adds, with actions logged and a kill switch also available. Users also don't have to actually access the Mac mini either. The Personal Computer is also controllable over the Internet, constantly running, or as Srinivas puts it, "It never sleeps." While it is announced today by the CEO, it's not immediately available to all. The company is operating a waitlist for access. More Mac mini AI shenanigans The name-checking of the Mac mini and the use of a local agentic system that runs on it isn't new. In fact, in the last few months, it's become a bit of a trend in AI. The Mac mini is considered a cheap entryway into locally hosting AI, without going nuts with Mac Studio clusters and Thunderbolt networking. While the Mac mini could feasibly run some of these agents, it's really just an entry point to running AI agents elsewhere. The Mac mini simply becomes an interface and storage depot for this style of agentic work, with users instead communicating with the AI using messaging apps. That came to a head with OpenClaw, formerly Clawdbot or Moltbot, which runs a local agentic AI to automate tasks. Much like Personal Computer, OpenClaw can hook in with other large language model services that can do work on its behalf. After becoming popular in AI circles and causing a trend of Mac mini purchases, developer Peter Steinberger joined OpenAI. And, OpenClaw came under the control of an open-source entity so it could continue to be used. It seems at least that Perplexity's Personal Computer is in response to OpenClaw, and its close association with OpenAI and ChatGPT. Other major AI companies have done some local-based work as well, such as Claude Cowork being a desktop assistant that works on local files. Perplexity's new addition appears to be a massive extension of that concept. AppleInsider strongly recommends that the average Mac user shouldn't jump straight into this field without performing a considerable amount of research beforehand. Just as giving others access to your files carries risks, so does giving access to AI agents.

Perplexity's Personal Computer: What is it, what can it do, and what does it cost?

Perplexity's latest AI agent runs 24/7 on a Mac mini -- handling your tasks, tools, and workflows whether you're working or not. At its inaugural Ask 2026 developer conference -- held inside a former church in San Francisco's North Beach -- Perplexity unveiled Personal Computer, a cloud-based AI agent designed to function as a persistent digital worker. Always on. Never takes a lunch break. More than can be said for most employees. So what Perplexity's Personal Computer actually is? Personal Computer is not hardware Perplexity manufactures -- it's software. A persistent, 24/7 evolution of the earlier Perplexity Computer, it runs continuously on a user-provided Mac mini or similar always-on machine, giving the AI direct access to local files, apps, and sessions. Recommended Videos It coordinates across 19 to 20 different AI models -- including specialised versions of Claude, Gemini, and Grok -- to handle complex workflows asynchronously. Give it a high-level objective; it breaks that down into subtasks and manages them start to finish, for weeks or months if needed. How secure is the personal, always-on AI is? Every task executes inside a sandboxed cloud environment with its own isolated filesystem and browser -- so the AI cannot go rogue through your downloads folder after hours. Every action requires user confirmation, and a built-in audit trail logs everything. You're not screen-sharing into a Mac; you're directing an AI agent running on it, remotely, while you get on with something else. What can you actually do with Personal Computer? This is where it stops sounding like a press release. A developer could instruct it to monitor a GitHub repository overnight and drop a formatted Slack summary into the team channel before standup -- no scripts, no panic. A researcher could throw a topic at it before heading to bed -- genuinely messy, half-formed brief and all -- and wake up to a structured report pulled from live sources, sitting in their inbox. No 11 p.m. rabbit holes. No seventeen open tabs. Someone running a small business gets arguably more value: point it at Gmail, tell it what matters, and it watches for client enquiries, drafts replies based on how you've written before, and only bothers you when something actually needs a human. Personal stuff should work too -- Notion notes that actually stay synced, email threads condensed before you open them, a Salesforce pipeline that updates itself while you're in back-to-back meetings wondering why you got into this industry. Gmail, Slack, GitHub -- It plugs Into everything Personal Computer connects to Gmail, Slack, GitHub, Notion, and Salesforce, monitoring triggers and executing proactive tasks across all of them. CEO Aravind Srinivas framed the philosophy at the conference: "A traditional operating system takes instructions; an AI operating system takes objectives." Bold -- though whether paying $200 a month for an AI reorganising your life at 3 a.m. is progress or low-grade anxiety remains, honestly, open. Who can get it, and what it actually costs? Access is limited to Perplexity Max subscribers at $200 a month, Mac-only at launch, via a waitlist. Subscribers get 10,000 monthly credits for computational tasks. The enterprise version adds security controls, compliance features, and single sign-on -- suggesting Perplexity is targeting power users and corporate buyers simultaneously with the same product. Nothing else on the market quite does what Personal Computer does -- not at this level of local-cloud integration, not with this many models running in parallel, not with this degree of hands-off execution. The $200 monthly price tag tells you everything about who Perplexity is actually building for; this isn't personal automation dressed up in enterprise clothing -- it's the other way around. Individuals will find uses for it, sure. But the real unlocks are business-shaped: teams drowning in repetitive workflows, founders who can't yet afford to hire, operations running on duct tape and spreadsheets.

Perplexity Brings Its Agentic AI Automation Platform to Mac Mini

It can also access the user's local files and take action on them Perplexity unveiled the Personal Computer on Wednesday as an extension to the last month's Perplexity Computer platform. Unlike what the name suggests, it is not a hardware system, but a dedicated tool for Apple's Mac Mini that connects Perplexity Computer to a device, and allows it to access the local apps and files. With that, the multi-model agentic system can perform a wider range of complex tasks autonomously. The company's new offering also competes with other automation tools available in the market, such as Anthropic's Claude Cowork, Microsoft's Copilot Cowork, and OpenClaw. Perplexity Unveils Personal Computer In a blog post, the San Francisco-based AI firm announced Personal Computer. The company describes it as an agentic AI system that runs on a dedicated Mac Mini around the clock. It can connect to the user's local apps and Perplexity's servers. "Personal Computer is a digital proxy for you, working constantly on your behalf and allowing you to orchestrate all of your tools, tasks, and files from any device, anywhere," the post added. It is said to run in the company's secure servers with clear safeguards. The AI system will ask for approval before taking sensitive actions, and will provide a full audit trail for each session. Additionally, users will also have access to a kill switch that can be used to gain immediate control at any given time. Currently, the offering is only available to a limited set of users. Perplexity has also opened a waitlist for interested individuals to register. To break it down, Perplexity Computer, which was released last month, was designed as a cloud-based agentic AI system that allows users to delegate web-based tasks. The system creates sub-agents that can work asynchronously. With Personal Computer, the same workflow gets connected to a dedicated Mac Mini, allowing it to take actions on the apps as well as local files. Alongside, Perplexity also introduced Computer for Enterprise, Comet Enterprise, four new application programming interfaces (APIs): Search, Agent, Embeddings, and Sandbox, an upgraded Perplexity Finance, and integration of Statista, CB Insights, and PitchBook as Premium Sources.