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Portable Computer is Perplexity's new local AI agent - why it's a game changer
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Perplexity has unveiled a new version of its Personal Computer agent, released in February, that aims to eliminate some of the drawbacks of using AI in the cloud. Known as Portable Computer, this new option relies on local AI models to handle your agentic requests and assignments without the usual online overhead.
Also: I gave Perplexity's agentic AI 5 complex tasks to run on my Mac - and I'll do it again
Debuting on Tuesday, Portable Computer offers access to all the standard AI commands, features, and tools through which Perplexity's agent can carry out tasks with little or no intervention on your part. The key part here is that the models, your files, and your work all stay on your machine. You control if and when the AI needs to hop online to achieve its mission. As always, you can still connect to external services like Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, and GitHub to incorporate your cloud-based files and information.
Why use AI locally rather than in the cloud? There are a few benefits.
First is performance. Local AI models can run faster and respond to your requests more quickly than their online counterparts. Second is security. Your tasks are handled locally in an isolated sandbox on your machine, reducing the risk of data breaches. Third is cost. Running AI in the cloud chews up credits, tokens, and money. Running it locally doesn't use any billing credits. If any part of a task needs to hop online, only the cloud work eats into your credits and tokens.
Also: 5 reasons I use local AI on my desktop - instead of ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude
"Perplexity Portable Computer is a local-first agent," Perplexity said in its blog post. "Sensitive data therefore never leaves the device without permission, and local models carry no inference fee: the system is private and cost-effective by construction."
Can anyone try Perplexity's new local AI? Unfortunately, no -- that's where the strict requirements come in. Portable Computer is available only for paid accounts, meaning Pro, Max, Enterprise Pro, and Enterprise Max subscribers. Sorry, free users.
For now, Portable Computer is accessible only on Linux systems, but Perplexity promises that it will reach Windows users in September. Sounds good, but there's more.