Perplexity has launched Personal Computer, a new AI agent tool that turns a spare Mac into a locally-run 24/7 autonomous system positioned as "a digital proxy for you." The agent runs on your local network, can monitor systems, manage tasks, and operate independently without cloud dependency. This represents a shift from conversational AI assistants toward true autonomous agents that can perform unsupervised work.

What This Means for Your Business

Local AI agents like Perplexity's offering pose both opportunity and risk. The ability to run autonomous tasks on your own hardware reduces cloud costs and latency, but requires new security and governance frameworks. Evaluate whether your organization is ready to manage always-on AI agents—consider data privacy implications, agent oversight mechanisms, and how you'll prevent unauthorized autonomous actions.