The AI agent aligns with the move to more AI on local computers.
August 26, 2026
Perplexity’s new local-first AI agent aims to address pressing concerns in the AI market: high token costs and the need for privacy. While the agent is part of the growing trend of edge AI, it also presents challenges, particularly the high cost of the AI computer it requires.
The AI search vendor on Tuesday introduced Portable Computer, a version of Perplexity Computer that runs locally. First introduced in February, Computer is a general-purpose digital worker that assists different AI models in performing autonomous workflows.
With Portable Computer, users run Computer on their personal device, particularly Nvidia DGX Spark, a compact desktop supercomputer. Perplexity built the local agent with Nvidia, so it runs on the personal AI computer with the Qwen 3.8 27B model from Chinese tech giant Alibaba, or PPLX 27, a post-trained version of Qwen.
