Perplexity has unveiled Personal Computer, a system that combines local files with the Perplexity Computer and runs 24/7 on a Mac Mini. It is designed to understand your goals, use different tools, and continue working even when you step away. A waitlist is now open for anyone interested.

How does Personal Computer work?

The system runs on a Mac Mini and is available around the clock. The Mac Mini is a compact computer from Apple known for its small size – it is about 20 times smaller than a typical PC tower and weighs only 670 grams.

The choice of Apple’s Mac Mini is not accidental. Recently, many companies have been using this model to run local AI agents because of its relatively low price. In practice, the Mac Mini often functions as an interface and storage hub, while the AI agents themselves may operate through external language model services.

One of the most prominent examples is OpenClaw, which launched a local AI agent capable of connecting to other language model services that perform tasks on its behalf.

Malcolm Owen, Product Comparison Expert at AppleInsider, noted that Perplexity’s Personal Computer appears to have been created partly in response to OpenClaw and its close ties with OpenAI and ChatGPT. He also points out that other major companies are developing local AI-powered solutions as well. For example, Claude Cowork is a desktop assistant designed to work with a user’s local files. Perplexity’s new development appears to be a significantly expanded version of this idea.

“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,” Perplexity stated.

In addition to efficiency, the new personal computer is designed to operate within a secure environment with clear protection mechanisms. Each session generates an audit log, a kill switch gives users full control, and sensitive actions require confirmation.

What does this mean for companies?

Personal Computer can be used by large organizations to support and streamline their workflows. According to the developers, Perplexity Computer saved their internal team $1.6 million and completed 3.25 years of work in just four weeks.

Computer for Enterprise does not require additional infrastructure and connects directly to tools already used by companies. Even more importantly, the system is trainable and easy to integrate, meaning it can be customized to fit almost any company workflow. Perplexity says that through connectors, the system can work directly with Snowflake, Salesforce, HubSpot, and hundreds of other platforms.

This means, for example, that a financial analyst can request revenue data by vertical from Snowflake, while the sales team simultaneously receives CRM insights and competitive context. The Computer generates queries, executes them, and returns structured results, the company explains.

Using Slack, teams can interact with the system to write code with Codex and Claude, create dashboards, financial models, and presentations – and most importantly, launch scheduled processes asynchronously.

The creators also emphasize that the Computer runs on a secure platform with SOC 2 Type II compliance, SAML SSO and audit logs.

Comet Enterprise – browser automation with native AI

Comet Enterprise introduces an organizational browser with native AI capabilities. The browser understands the context of open tabs and automates many tasks.

Administrators have control over how the assistant operates. For example, they can allow it to answer questions without taking action, enable more proactive automation in low-risk areas or review logs of every session.

Employees can install Comet on their devices with centralized deployment via MDM. Additional capabilities include applying browser policies, blocking domains and extensions, monitoring activity through exportable telemetry.

Comet Enterprise also focuses heavily on security. The product is developed in partnership with CrowdStrike – a cybersecurity company known for its cloud platform CrowdStrike Falcon, which functions as a next-generation antivirus (NGAV) and endpoint detection and response system (EDR). The platform uses AI to protect against malware, ransomware and hacking attacks.

“Through our partnership with CrowdStrike, Comet Enterprise customers gain additional browser-level protections, including visibility into installed extensions, risk scores, and protections that help prevent sensitive information from being entered into Comet.” , Perplexity declared.

What does the Computer mean for developers?

Perplexity is expanding its platform with four APIs: Search, Agent, Embeddings, and Sandbox. These are the same building blocks that power Computer internally, but they are now available through the platform’s API.

The main functions of each API include:

  • Search – retrieving reliable information
  • Agent – delegating multi-step tasks
  • Sandbox – a secure execution environment
  • Embeddings – powering search and ranking systems

Working with premium data sources

Another key feature is Premium Sources, which allows professional data providers to be integrated into Perplexity. The company notes that many of these sources are normally paid services, but Perplexity makes them accessible directly through the platform. Currently, Computer can access Statista, CB Insights, and PitchBook.

Improved financial capabilities

The company also introduced an updated Perplexity Finance, providing direct access to more than 40 financial tools. These include SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global, Coinbase, LSEG, Quartr, and others. All of them require no additional configuration, licenses, or API keys, making them easier to use.

Moreover, The Computer can now generate Excel models, build full financial applications, and create interactive dashboards. These tools are available both for personal use and for broader institutional analysis.

The system can also act as a full financial assistant by pulling data from prediction markets such as Polymarket, and by connecting brokerage accounts through Plaid to analyze portfolios and risk exposure.

Background: from Perplexity Computer to Personal Computer

At the end of February, the company announced the release of Perplexity Computer, whose core idea was to unify multiple AI models into a single system.

The creators explained that in AI this concept is known as “orchestration” – a management layer coordinating multiple models. They argued that collaboration between several models can produce results far beyond the capabilities of any single model.

For this purpose, they created a “computer” – a multimodel system that combines different AI systems for efficient, autonomous, and personalized work.

Perplexity wrote:

“The next phase of AI must be massively multimodel. That’s Perplexity Computer. Nineteen models are available in the backend, and the outputs have impressed me more than anything in AI for a while.”

Perplexity described its first experimental system as ASI – Artificial Super Intelligence. The idea was to treat it as a digital worker.

In practice, the workflow looked like this: a user sends a task through Slack, the system delegates subtasks, creates files to support its own work, searches for relevant information, and periodically checks progress. The process runs without human involvement, and by the next day users can receive the results of what would normally be a week of work.

At its core, the concept suggests that the computer of the future is not simply a device with a graphical interface (GUI), but a system capable of interacting with the web, files, and software tools like a personal digital worker through model orchestration.

The newly announced system is essentially a modified and expanded version of the original Perplexity Computer – now personalized for each user and connected to local applications as well as secure Perplexity servers.

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, commenting on the launch on X, noted:

“It’s personal and more powerful than any AI system ever launched.”