25 August 2026

Perplexity launches local AI agent that runs entirely on your computer

First reported

VentureBeat and ZDNET ran this on 25 August, all on the same day.

Perplexity, an AI search company, released Portable Computer on Tuesday, an agent (AI that completes tasks with minimal human input) that runs on your device instead of cloud servers.
The local setup eliminates token costs (fees charged per unit of AI processing) entirely, improves response speed, and keeps sensitive data on your machine rather than sending it online.
Linux users can access it now using Nvidia RTX GPUs, with Windows support arriving in September, though the hardware requirement is steep: a graphics card with at least 24GB of memory costing over $1,500.
Portable Computer offers open-source Qwen 3.8 27B model or Perplexity's custom PPLX 27B version, with Nvidia's Nemotron 3.5 Lightning model coming soon, all switchable depending on the task.