Perplexity Transforms Idle Macs Into Always-On AI Agents With New Personal Computer Tool

Perplexity is making a bold push beyond its search-engine roots. The AI company this week unveiled Personal Computer, a new tool designed to convert a spare Mac into a continuously running, locally hosted AI agent — one that the company describes as "a digital proxy for you."

The product represents a meaningful step up in ambition for Perplexity. According to reporting by The Verge, Personal Computer operates around the clock on a dedicated device within the user's local network, with full access to files and applications. Crucially, users can control it remotely from any device, anywhere — positioning it less as a chatbot and more as a persistent, autonomous extension of the user themselves.

A More Personal Take on the AI Agent Race

Personal Computer builds directly on a product Perplexity launched just last month: Perplexity Computer, a cluster of agents the company described as a "general-purpose digital worker." Where that earlier offering focused on broad, task-oriented automation, the new Personal Computer leans into personalization. By running locally and maintaining continuous access to a user's data and apps, the system can theoretically develop a much richer understanding of individual workflows, preferences, and habits — something cloud-based agents inherently struggle to replicate.

This distinction matters in a competitive landscape where major players including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are all racing to deploy agentic AI systems. Local execution offers a compelling differentiator: reduced latency, enhanced privacy, and a level of contextual depth that depends on persistent, on-device data access rather than snapshots fed into a remote model.

Privacy, Trust, and the "Digital Proxy" Proposition

The concept of granting an AI agent unrestricted access to one's files and applications is not without friction. For Perplexity, pitching this level of access as a feature rather than a liability requires a significant degree of user trust. The company's framing of the tool as a "digital proxy" is telling — it signals an intent to position Personal Computer not as a utility, but as a stand-in for the user in day-to-day digital tasks.

For data professionals and knowledge workers, the implications are substantial. An agent with deep, continuous access to local systems could automate research workflows, synthesize documents, manage communications, or monitor data pipelines — all without manual prompting. Whether Perplexity can execute on that vision at scale, and whether users will embrace the necessary trade-offs in access and control, remains to be seen.

Why This Matters

Perplexity's Personal Computer signals a broader industry shift: AI tools are evolving from reactive assistants into proactive, persistent agents embedded directly into users' environments. By anchoring this experience to a physical device on a local network, Perplexity is making a calculated bet that users want AI that is both deeply personal and always available — not just capable, but ever-present.

For businesses and individuals evaluating AI adoption, the emergence of locally run agent platforms introduces a new category to watch. The "spare Mac" framing lowers the barrier to entry, but the underlying proposition — a tireless digital worker with full system access — marks a genuinely new frontier in how AI integrates into daily work.

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Source: Robert Hart, The Verge

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