Perplexity launches Teammates, always-on AI helpers for work

In short: Perplexity has launched “Teammates,” a new set of always-on AI helpers designed to handle ongoing work tasks.

What happened

Perplexity, a startup best known for its search and answer app, announced a new feature called Teammates. The company describes Teammates as “AI agents,” which is a type of AI that can carry out tasks on your behalf, more like a coworker than a chat box.

Perplexity says Teammates can take on multiple roles inside a workspace and keep working 24/7. They can also use information from the Perplexity tools you already use, including your existing projects and what the system “remembers” about your work (think of it like notes it keeps so you do not have to repeat yourself).

Teammates work with Perplexity Computer, another Perplexity product that can run AI workers on your own device to complete tasks. Perplexity says Teammates build on top of that by focusing on collaboration and longer, ongoing projects, not just one-off actions.

In the Perplexity app, each Teammate gets its own thread, so you can check progress in separate conversations. Perplexity also says you can interact with Teammates in Slack, a popular workplace chat app.

The feature is positioned as a competitor to similar work tools from OpenAI and Anthropic. Perplexity’s version requires its $200 per month Max plan.

Why it matters

More companies are trying to sell AI that works in the background, not just AI that answers a single question. For teams, the practical question is whether these tools save enough time to justify the cost, especially at $200 a month per user.

Source: The Verge AI