By By Ben Patterson Senior Writer, PCWorld
Publication Date: 2026-04-17 14:28:00
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Perplexity launched ‘Personal Computer,’ a Mac AI assistant designed to improve upon OpenClaw with enhanced transparency and safety features.
- PCWorld reports the service costs $200 monthly through Perplexity’s Max tier, reflecting intensive AI token consumption typical of agentic AI tools.
- The high pricing makes these powerful personal AI assistants inaccessible to average consumers despite their advanced capabilities.
I want a personal AI assistant. There, I said it. I want a team of agents on my computer that take over my system, sort through email, pick through my calendar events, scour the web for news and trends I care about, craft to-do lists and check off the items it can do on its own, and organize my day. Go ahead and sign me up.
The problem, of course, is getting a personal AI assistant that can do all that securely and safely. OpenClaw, the open-source sensation that kicked off the whole personal AI craze earlier this year, is both tricky to install and tough to control, prone to nuking inboxes without notice while being an easy target for hackers.
Enter Perplexity, which is launching an AI assistant for the Mac that’s designed to smooth out the rough edges of OpenClaw. Built with transparency in mind so you can see what it’s doing and confined in a sandbox that acts as a safety net, Perplexity’s Personal Computer looks to be OpenClaw for everybody.
Just one problem: Personal Computer…
