I’ve given Perplexity’s AI 5 complex tasks to run on my Mac – and I’ll do it again
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Agent AI promises to automatically handle tasks that would otherwise require significant time and effort on your part. And by interacting directly with your computer, AI can work with your files, apps, settings, and services. One agent AI that gets a lot of frustration is Perplexity, thanks to the Personal Computer feature built into the Mac app.
Originally available only to Perplexity Max subscribers, the Personal Computer capability has recently been extended to Enterprise and Pro users. If you subscribe to any of those programs, all you need to do is download the Perplexity Mac app to try out the feature. You can then connect Perplexity to your files, apps, and services and give it a bunch of tasks to do on its own.
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A personal computer takes advantage of three types of access.
- The first is to access the local file. Here, AI can connect to any folder anywhere on your Mac to search for, view, and create files.
- The second is to control the application. AI can run and work with any native application on your computer, including Messages, Notes, Mail, Maps, Photos, and Settings.
- The third is access to external resources. You can connect to services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox, making Perplexity work with your cloud-based files.
Perplexity’s personal computer can use Safari or another web browser to browse the web normally. But if you want AI to enter websites, fill out forms, click buttons, and interact with various pages and content, you’ll need to install Perplexity’s Comet browser.
To start a session, you can simply click the Perplexity icon on the Dock. But pressing two Command keys at the same time also launches a small session window where you can type or speak your request. Also, you can start a voice chat with the AI where you can discuss the task you would like it completed.
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I recently took Perplexity’s Personal Computer for a test drive to see how it handles a range of tasks. I started with a few easy ones and increased the difficulty level to see how it would react. To cut to the chase, I’m impressed with the Personal Computer. In fact, I gave it tasks I didn’t think it could handle, and it completed them exactly as I asked.
Before you start
Go to the Perplexity Personal Computer page on your Mac and click the Download for Mac button to download and install the application. After signing in, you’re prompted to give Perplexity access to keyboard shortcuts, screen recording, and your hard drive so it can run across your Mac. Follow the screens to set the required permissions.
Next you may want to add connectors for third-party services if you want AI to access them. You can connect services like Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, SharePoint, Outlook, Slack, GitHub, Shopify, and many more. To do this, select the Customize option in the left pane. On the Connectors screen, click the name of the service you wish to add. On the next screen, click the Add connector button, and sign in to the service to connect it.
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If you plan to use Perplexity to interact with web pages, you’ll need to install the Comet browser. To do this, visit the Comet website and click the button to download Comet.
5 Tasks I Assigned to Confusion
OK, with everything set up, here are the tasks I assigned, and how Perplexity’s Personal Computer went.
Return to the Perplexity app and click the New Task option on the left. You are placed on a Personal Computer screen where you can start work by submitting your application immediately. If you’re not sure how to get started, select a category below the information and choose a suggested activity. I chose the task of creating an Italian practice tool that focuses on everyday phrases.
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The process took about 15 minutes to complete. Once completed, Perplexity created an interactive language learning tool that allowed me to see and hear different Italian phrases in multiple categories. I could also answer the questions to see what I learned. I appreciate this, as my wife and I are planning a trip to Italy next year, so I need to strengthen my Italian.
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Next, I tried one of my jobs. Here, I asked Perplexity to scan a Word document I’m using as a handout for an eBay class I teach and turn it into a PowerPoint presentation. In response, the AI created a structured and comprehensive text-based presentation. But it looked simple, so I asked it to add color and pictures, it did, it made it look better.
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In this case, I attached my article written in English and asked Perplexity to translate it into Italian. But there is more. I’ve saved the article to Microsoft OneDrive. I also told Perplexity that I created a side-by-side bilingual learning document that highlights tricky idioms and grammar and a text-to-speech audio file for an Italian version that I can listen to anytime.
In addition, I told it to save the files from the Documents folder on the Mac. And I sent my request through AI chat voice mode instead of writing it. The benefit is that Perplexity duplicated the steps of my authentication request and told me when the task was complete.
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One glitch to boot. The AI informed me that it could not “see” the document I had already attached during the prompt, so I had to upload it again. However, from then on, the process went smoothly. Towards the end, I had to give Perplexity permission to access my Documents folder. But the required files are placed in the correct folder and attached to the chat, so I can access them both ways.
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Next, I gave Perplexity a task that required it to create a file from existing data and work with two third-party file services. Here, I told it to scan my invoices folder in Google Drive to find my invoices document. I then directed it to extract the client names and dollar amounts from each page, added them to an Excel spreadsheet, and entered the row total below. Finally, I asked it to copy the spreadsheet to my Business folder in Box.
Since I already connected Google Drive and Box to Perplexity, I didn’t need to sign in to any account. But because the task required a web browser to interact with these services, the AI used Comet instead of Safari. Confusion completed this without a hitch, creating and copying the spreadsheet in Box and displaying it in the chat.
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For the following trick, I told Perplexity to scan a folder in Outlook for emails that discuss a specific topic. I then asked for a summary of those emails, as well as a review against the websites mentioned in them to check for accuracy or contradiction. In addition, I asked it to save the summary as a Word document in a OneDrive folder.
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This one took over 30 minutes to complete and required 86 separate steps. It got the gist of my request but dropped the ball on one thing. For some reason, it couldn’t find the folder I specified in Outlook and instead searched all folders with the specified title. But it still got the emails I wanted and provided a clear and well-researched summary document stored in OneDrive and displayed in chat.
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The conclusion
Overall, I’m impressed with Perplexity’s Personal Computer capabilities. I do hard work on it. And without a few hiccups along the way, the AI delivered exactly what I asked for. The next time I need to take care of a complicated task on my Mac, I’ll be sure to pass the assignment on to Perplexity.
