The new Perplexity computer is another bet that users need more AI models

Starting this week, Perplexity subscribers will have a new tool at their disposal.

Perplexity Computer, in the company’s words, “combines all the power of AI in one system.” In particular, Perplexity claims to be a computer operator that can create complex tasks arbitrarily using 19 types of AI, even creating subagents to solve specific problems.

The tool is available now, only for the company’s most expensive subscription, the $200/month Perplexity Max. It runs on the cloud, which can save some of the security features of other tools like OpenClaw.

TechCrunch hasn’t done a hands-on demonstration of the new device, but inside madness of work on the Perplexity website, it is shown to perform functions that involve the collection of statistics, financial, or legal information; make an analysis; and share your findings as finished pages or screenshots.

Disruption called the media for a briefing with management last week to discuss the business and set the schedule for the year. The event was supposed to include a demonstration of the device, but the company canceled the demonstration due to defects found in the product hours before.

This tool represents the evolution of Perplexity, which led to the initial explosion of AI by wrapping models around the edges of applications, especially its responsive function as a search engine. It then went on to launch its Comet browser last summer. Competitors like Google are now changing their products to look like what was built into Perplexity, one executive said, but that’s as much a threat as it is a compliment.

The company is adapting to the changing environment: One of the first AI companies to serve up ads, it exited the business late last year, saying last week that it had undermined users’ confidence in the accuracy of its responses. But Perplexity’s user base — out of millions of users — pales in comparison to OpenAI, which claims 800 million users every week and is starting to test ads in ChatGPT this year.

Now, Perplexity executives say they’re looking for more salespeople, with products that help people make “GDP-moving decisions.” The executives in the briefing, who asked not to be named, outlined the company’s registration priorities, particularly in the field of research.

“You don’t hear us talking about MAUs, because we don’t want to get as many users as possible,” said one official.

Disruption has recently released a new benchmark for complex research projects, called Draco, where (unsurprisingly) its deep research offering outperforms competitors like Gemini.

Confusion says it no longer relies on third-party APIs for its sites and now has its own AI search API. But the company is increasingly focused on consumer-oriented user interface design, arguing that there is value in organizing multiple third-party LLMs to provide cheaper and more accurate answers to questions.

“Multi-model is the future,” one Perplexity argued. Models, in their opinion, are permanent, not for sale. The company has found that its users often switch between models to get the results they want, and December 2025 display questions are often sent to Gemini Flash, software developed by Claude Sonnet 4.5, and clinical research to GPT-5.1.

If one LLM is good at writing and another is better at marketing, the Perplexity program can choose the right one. Another example, executives said, is running China-made Perplexity’s modified LLMs to answer low-cost questions, a strategy the company stopped hiding from its customers last year. But in practice, this method can be a good way to fulfill LLM questions.

The company also offers users the opportunity to ask several models at once, in a section called the Model Council. But the social economy of offering multiple inquiries at subscription prices is not clear.

However, without expensive projects on its books and, the managers said, a high limit on user fees, Perplexity believes it will remain competitive by distributing tokens to the best model for the purpose.

And there’s more to come: Perplexity’s Comet browser is coming to iOS next month, and the company is planning a developer conference, Ask, on March 11 in San Francisco to promote third-party use of its API.

One executive said that instead of looking at the previous day’s number of inquiries every morning, they are now looking for the latest revenue streams. At least some customers are seeing a new look at the bottom line, with the Perplexity subreddit having frequent complaints about new prices for both the free and subscription groups.

However, the leaders of the meeting reject such complaints: “Any discussions in the free public are being tainted or reduced by lies,” he said.