Perplexity unveils Personal Computer, an always-on local AI proxy built around a Mac mini

Perplexity announced on X on March 11, 2026 that it is launching Personal Computer, a system the company describes as an always-on, local extension of Perplexity Computer. In the launch post, Perplexity said the product works across a user’s files, apps, and active sessions through a continuously running Mac mini. A follow-up thread added that the environment is controllable from any device and can bridge local software with Perplexity’s secure servers.

The company’s official waitlist page pushes the concept further. Perplexity calls Personal Computer an AI operating system rather than a conventional desktop tool and says it gives Perplexity Computer and the Comet Assistant persistent, local access to a machine’s state. That framing matters because it shifts the product from a request-response assistant toward a standing agent that can preserve context over time, stay near local resources, and act more like a digital proxy than a chat interface.

• Perplexity says Personal Computer is always on and locally anchored to a compact desktop machine.
• The system is meant to work across files, apps, and ongoing sessions rather than only inside a browser tab.
• For safety, the company says every sensitive action requires approval, every action is logged, and there is a kill switch.

The security posture is central to the pitch. Persistent agents create obvious trust and privacy concerns because they are designed to remain near user data and active applications for long periods. Perplexity is trying to answer that by emphasizing local access, explicit approval boundaries, auditability, and the ability to stop the system. Whether those safeguards are enough for enterprises or security-conscious individuals will depend on implementation details, but the company is clearly treating control and visibility as core product features rather than secondary documentation.

The launch is significant because it suggests the next competition in AI assistants may center on persistent presence, not just model quality. If systems can continuously observe local context and coordinate work across apps, the boundary between assistant, automation tool, and operating environment starts to blur. Personal Computer is still early and waitlist-based, but the March 11 rollout shows how quickly AI companies are experimenting with agent architectures that stay resident on a user’s machine instead of appearing only when asked a question.