At its first developer conference in a former North Beach church, Perplexity unveiled its Personal Computer, extended its cloud agent to enterprises, introduced finance data tools, and emphasized a key claim: AI is now the computer.
Two weeks post-launch of Perplexity Computer, an AI cloud agent orchestrating 20 frontier models for autonomous multi-step workflows, the company expanded its platform significantly at the Ask 2026 conference in San Francisco.
The main highlight is Personal Computer: software running continuously on a Mac mini supplied by the user, integrating local files, apps, and sessions with Perplexity’s cloud-based system.
This allows the AI to have constant, always-on access to the machine, monitoring triggers, executing tasks, and advancing work without requiring the user’s presence.
Sensitive actions need explicit approval, sessions generate full audit trails, and a kill switch offers user control.
Personal Computer is software, not hardware. Perplexity isn’t creating a device; the Mac mini is the host, with Perplexity’s platform connecting remotely and controllable from any device. Available only to Perplexity Max subscribers at $200/month, the launch will be Mac-only, with 10,000 monthly compute credits included.
A waitlist is open, and Perplexity will support the initial users.
CEO Aravind Srinivas described the ambition: “A traditional operating system takes instructions; an AI operating system takes objectives.”
Beyond Personal Computer, Perplexity extends its Computer platform to enterprise customers. This version includes SOC 2 Type II compliance, SAML single sign-on, audit logs, and isolated sandboxing for each query.
It connects natively to platforms like Snowflake, Salesforce, and HubSpot, enabling teams to query data warehouses, access CRM data, and build financial models without waiting on data teams. Enterprise interactions are available directly within Slack.
Perplexity’s usage data, reported by VentureBeat, highlights a model-agnostic strategy: in January 2025, 90% of enterprise queries used just two AI models, but by December, no model exceeded 25% usage.
The company bets enterprises will want access to the best model for each task, not a single stack.
The conference also expanded Perplexity Finance. With 75% of users posing finance questions monthly, Computer now accesses over 40 live data tools from SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global, and others.
No extra license or API is needed, with all figures traceable. Computer can now create interactive dashboards, Excel models, and full financial applications.
For developers, Perplexity announced new APIs at the conference, though details are not fully provided. The February launch included a usage-based API; this extends the developer framework, aligning with the conference’s focus.
Perplexity’s challenge, as Axios noted, is justifying its $200/month charge without building its own models, against companies like OpenAI or Google.
Perplexity’s answer is orchestration, not a single model, but intelligently deploying all models. VentureBeat estimates annual revenue at $148 million as of mid-2025, aiming for $656 million by end-2026, indicating needed growth of around 230%.
Personal Computer and Computer for Enterprise are fundamental to achieving this target.