At the start of September, Perplexity introduced Hybrid Compute, an update to its Computer app that gave users the option to split their AI workloads across a combination of frontier and local models running on their own machine. In hindsight, it was probably only a matter of time before the company made it possible for people to run the platform entirely on their own device, because that's exactly what it's doing now. Provided you own a recent Apple Silicon Mac with at least 36GB of RAM, now you can run the entire Computer experience, including the all-important harness and orchestrator, on your own machine. Like Hybrid Compute, Perplexity is pitching this feature as a boon to thrifty users and those who want to keep their data private. For example, with access to your Notes and Mail apps, you could ask Computer to generate a priority to-do list for you, without any of the data in your emails being sent to the cloud.

Back in February, debuted Perplexity Computer. Like Claude Cowork, it's a suite of AI agents that can autonomously complete tasks using the web, as well as files and apps on your PC. Since then, the platform has evolved to encompass a few different products, including Personal Computer for the Mac, and today Perplexity is announcing yet offshoot called Hybrid Compute. The new tools allows you to split a task between a frontier, cloud-based model like Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol and a local LLM running on your computer -- the idea being that the local model can handle any sensitive information so that it remains safe and secure on your machine. Perplexity suggests a few different use cases where Hybrid Compute would be a good fit. For instance, a lawyer might want to prepare a brief that compares the case they're working on against existing case law.