Perplexity just opened its Personal Computer feature to all Mac users, dropping the access restrictions that had previously limited it. The product brings AI agents - software that takes actions on your computer rather than just answering questions in a chat window - to the Mac desktop.
The distinction from a regular AI app is meaningful. When you ask a chatbot something, it responds with text. When an agent handles a task, it actually operates your computer: moving between applications, clicking, typing, reading content from your screen, and executing steps toward a goal without you directing each one manually. Personal Computer is built to work at that level, giving Perplexity a presence inside your actual workflow rather than just a browser tab.
Perplexity started as an AI-powered answer engine and has steadily pushed into tools that do more than lookup - summarization, research, and now desktop-level task handling. This is its most direct move into the operating system layer of your work.
The Mac AI agent space is getting crowded. Apple has been weaving AI features into macOS through Apple Intelligence, and Anthropic's Claude for Desktop is another option for users who want a desktop AI that can interact with files and applications directly. Perplexity is betting that its search capabilities give it an edge here.
For Mac users curious enough to try it, general availability means no waitlist. The practical question is whether the feature holds up across real-world workflows - agent demos tend to show best-case scenarios, and performance across different applications and task types varies considerably.