Perplexity launches Computer as general-purpose AI agent platform with model selection

Perplexity has introduced Perplexity Computer, a general purpose platform built around multiple AI sub agents that can handle end-to-end tasks. Perplexity says the system reasons, delegates, searches, builds, remembers, codes, and delivers by breaking a user prompt into smaller steps and assigning them to specialized agents for work like web research, document generation, and data processing. Users can run multiple Computers in parallel, and Perplexity says each task runs in an isolated environment with a real filesystem, browser, and tool integrations.

Perplexity is positioning Computer as a model agnostic orchestration layer. It currently uses Anthropic Opus 4.6 as the main reasoning engine, with Gemini for deep research, Nano Banana for images, Veo 3.1 for video, Grok for fast lightweight tasks, and ChatGPT 5.2 for long context recall and wide search. Perplexity also emphasizes sandboxed execution as a safety measure intended to keep issues contained away from a user’s main network.

Comparisons have quickly surfaced with OpenClaw, the recently popular open-source agent platform that runs locally on a user’s machine and can connect to email, messaging, and local files to automate workflows and execute commands. That local model gives users more control over which models to use and how much system access to grant, but it also shifts configuration and security responsibility onto the user, and researchers have warned about risks if deep access agents are misconfigured. Perplexity is pitching Computer as a more controlled middle ground between OpenClaw and tools like Claude Cowork, and it is available now to Perplexity Max subscribers with an Enterprise Max rollout planned soon.