• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Perplexity completely abandoned its advertising model in February to focus on optimizing results on its engine for queries, and AI agents and software for enterprises, despite a court ruling that it must stop using its Comet web browser agent to make purchases on behalf of shoppers on Amazon's online marketplace.

The order mandates that Perplexity must stop accessing password-protected areas of Amazon's systems and destroy any copies of Amazon's data in its possession.

The company seems to have taken a slightly different direction as it appeals this decision.

This week, at Perplexity's invite-only inaugural developer conference, "Ask 2026," the company launched a variety of AI agent tools and software such as "Personal Computer," which runs locally on Mac mini with full local access to files and apps.

Perplexity says the setup is more secure than OpenClaw, which Moltbook was built on -- requiring all actions to be confirmed by the user and produces a built-in audit trail.

A total of thirteen products and features were introduced like “Computer for Enterprise” and an “Agent API.”

"A traditional operating system takes instructions; an AI operating system takes objectives," CEO Aravind Srinivas said at the conference, according to reports.

Perplexity’s Search API handles nearly 10 million requests daily. Organic success on the AI engine means being cited in query results as the primary source or recommendation, but this focus on software that runs on hardware, a user's Mac mini, gives Perplexity's cloud-based AI agent access to local files, apps, and sessions.

The company also extended its "Computer" platform to enterprise customers, adding compliance, security and integration features for teams to access data and build models without relying on specialized staff.

The computer software announcement came with APIs and expansion of its finance data tools, with more than 6,000 developers and organizations using the companies APIs such as Nvidia, Samsung, Bridgewater, and SAP. Combined, Perplexity’s APIs process more than 15 million requests daily, up 623% year-over-year. 

The shift is a result of concerns around Perplexity's ad model. It may erode consumer trust in AI responses.

The company had previously launched advertising in November 2024 with formats like Sponsored Follow-Up Questions, video ads, and a Merchant Program, but the services did not see growth as expected. It stopped accepting new advertisers in October 2025.

More than 75% of Perplexity paying users use Perplexity Finance, according to the company.

Perplexity Computer turns Perplexity Finance into a personal terminal with more than 40 live finance tools built in.

It pulls data from SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global and major exchanges in real-time.

It monitors information and creates dashboards, spreadsheets, and apps across all data providers.

This week Computer expanded with new data sources and integrations. Financial queries are automatically routed to Deep Research. Prediction-market analysis and portfolio holdings are incorporated.

A new Plaid integration allows users to connect their brokerage accounts with read-only access, and Polymarket prediction data is now integrated directly into Perplexity Finance. Live-updating graphs surface as in-line widgets.

“Premium Sources” also launched with three market research partners such as CB Insights, PitchBook, and Statista. Future “Premium Sources” partners in healthcare and law will be announced in the coming weeks.