Perplexity’s new tool deploys teams of AI agents

Perplexity Launches “Computer” — A Multi-Model AI Agent That Can Orchestrate Entire Teams of Sub-Agents

In the latest salvo of the rapidly escalating AI agent wars, Perplexity has just unveiled its most ambitious project yet: Computer — a cloud-based, multi-model “digital worker” that doesn’t just assist you, but actually does the work for you by deploying teams of specialized sub-agents under its command.

Just weeks after OpenClaw ignited a firestorm in the AI community with its viral open-source autonomous agent, and days after Meta’s Manus AI entered the fray with its own slick agentic twist, Perplexity is now stepping into the ring with a tool it’s billing as a “massively multi-model orchestration system.”

What Is Perplexity Computer?

According to Perplexity’s chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko, Computer is designed to be a “general-purpose digital worker that operates the same interfaces you do.” In plain English? It’s an AI that can go out, gather information, write code, build dashboards, create presentations, and even generate animated GIFs — all while delegating tasks to specialized sub-agents.

Under the hood, Computer runs on a veritable AI Avengers team:

• Claude Opus 4.6 powers the core reasoning engine
• Gemini handles deep research projects
• Nano Banana creates images
• Veo 3.1 crafts videos
• Grok speeds up lightweight tasks
• ChatGPT 5.2 manages long-context recall and wide search

This isn’t just a chatbot with extra features — it’s a full-fledged autonomous agent capable of planning, executing, and delivering complex projects from start to finish.

Born in a Month, Built Overnight

What makes Computer’s debut even more remarkable is how quickly it came together. Shevelenko revealed that work on the tool began just last month as an “internal experiment.” The team was stunned by how rapidly it progressed: “Work that would take weeks for a team was getting done overnight while we slept,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Originally, the team communicated with Computer via Slack, treating it more like a digital employee than a simple tool. But after realizing its potential, they rebuilt it as a standalone product and gave it a name worthy of its ambitions: Computer.

How It Stacks Up Against the Competition

Computer enters a crowded and rapidly evolving field. OpenClaw, the open-source tool that kicked off this whole “personal AI agent” craze, runs directly on your hardware and can interact with your local files and applications. Meta’s Manus AI offers similar capabilities with slick integrations into popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Discord, and Telegram.

Perplexity Computer takes a different approach. Rather than living on your device, it operates entirely in the cloud within a secure sandbox. This makes it safer — no risk of it accidentally nuking your email inbox or deleting important files — but it also limits its reach compared to OpenClaw’s direct device access.

Another key difference? Interface. While OpenClaw and Manus AI chat with you through familiar social apps, Computer lives inside the Perplexity app itself. This gives it a more professional, work-focused feel — perfect for businesses looking to deploy AI agents at scale.

The Future of Work, Automated

With Computer, Perplexity is making a bold bet: that the future of knowledge work isn’t just AI-assisted, but AI-automated. Imagine telling your computer, “Build me a marketing dashboard with real-time sales data,” and watching as it spins up sub-agents to gather the data, write the code, design the visuals, and deliver a finished product — all without you lifting a finger.

It’s a vision that’s equal parts thrilling and unnerving. On one hand, it promises unprecedented productivity gains. On the other, it raises questions about job displacement, security, and the role of human creativity in an age of autonomous machines.

For now, Computer is available only to Perplexity Max users, but if the pace of development so far is any indication, it won’t be long before this kind of multi-agent orchestration becomes mainstream.

Welcome to the Agentic AI Era

Whether you call it a “digital worker,” a “massively multi-model orchestration system,” or just an incredibly advanced AI assistant, one thing is clear: the age of autonomous AI agents is here. And with Computer, Perplexity is making sure it’s not just a spectator in this revolution — it’s helping to lead it.

Tags: Perplexity Computer, AI agents, autonomous AI, multi-model AI, Claude Opus, Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Manus AI, digital workers, AI automation, cloud AI, AI orchestration, Perplexity Max, AI productivity, future of work, AI sub-agents, AI coding, AI research, AI video generation, AI image creation

Viral Sentences:

• “Work that would take weeks for a team was getting done overnight while we slept.”
• “It’s not just an AI assistant — it’s a digital worker that operates the same interfaces you do.”
• “Welcome to the agentic AI era, where your computer doesn’t just help you — it does the work for you.”
• “Perplexity Computer: Because sometimes, you need an entire team of AI sub-agents to get the job done.”
• “The future of work isn’t AI-assisted. It’s AI-automated.”

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