AgentsAutonomy & tool use
Perplexity launches Teammates, always-on AI work agents for its $200-a-month Max subscribers
Perplexity has released Teammates, a research preview of always-on agents that take persistent roles, inherit a user's Computer projects and memory, and check in over Slack. Access requires the $200-per-month Max plan, and metered credits apply after a promotional period.
From the The Verge · AI article of November 5, 2026 and cited sources: Users give each Teammate a role and standing instructions, such as on-call engineer or legal research assistant. [1] [9] [8] [7]
SOURCES[1] Perplexity launches its own take on AI agents for work theverge.com[9] Perplexity: Teammates product page perplexity.ai[8] AlphaSignal: Teammates gives AI agents persistent roles… alphasignal.ai
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 5 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- What happened
- Users give each Teammate a role and standing instructions, such as on-call engineer or legal research assistant. [1] [9] [8] [7]
- Original source
- The Verge · AI article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- November 5, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Nov 6 edition
- Evidence
- 11 sources across 11 sites
- 1Perplexity launches its own take on AI agents for worktheverge.com
- 2i-scoop: Perplexity Teammates take over a project for weeksi-scoop.eu
- 3TechCrunch: Perplexity's new Computertechcrunch.com
- 4Let's Data Science: OpenAI introduces Dotsletsdatascience.com
- 5MacRumors: Perplexity Computer runs fully locally on Macmacrumors.com
- 6NewsBytes: Anthropic unveils Claude Duetnewsbytesapp.com
Reach: not measured yet
Users give each Teammate a role and standing instructions, such as on-call engineer or legal research assistant. Each Teammate runs in its own thread with a separate desktop, browser session and cookie store. It takes on the user's Computer projects, skills, memory, plugins and permissions, and uses escalation rules to decide when to message people in Slack. The research preview is web-only for Max subscribers. Mobile is due later, and Enterprise accounts are not included by default. [1] [9] [8] [7]
Teammates cost nothing extra during the promotional period, but after that the real cost depends on credit use, not the subscription. Max includes 10,000 credits a month, and extra credits cost $1 per 100. Perplexity's own estimates, which no one has checked independently, put a research report at 350–950 credits, a data dashboard at 2,400–9,800, and a multi-day build at 15,000 or more. One heavy task could use most of a month's allowance. [2]
Perplexity is entering a market that rivals opened weeks earlier. OpenAI launched Dots on September 29 with Slack and Teams access, starting at $100 a month on ChatGPT Pro. Anthropic launched Claude Duet on October 21. Teammates run on Computer's planner, which breaks work into tasks and assigns a model to each, in line with Perplexity's long-standing argument that orchestrating many models beats relying on one. [4] [6] [11] [3] [8]
Because Teammates inherit the user's permissions, loosely written escalation rules can give an agent more reach than intended. Reliability over long runs, handoffs between agents, auditability and alert fatigue are still unresolved points. No benchmarks or task-success rates have been published. Data is processed in the US, and no GDPR processing agreement has been published. [8] [9] [2]
The reviewed sources cover features, pricing and timing, but not performance: no benchmarks or long-run reliability data have been published.
Read the full assessment
Buyers should therefore set credit caps, narrow permissions and define escalation rules before the free period ends.
Executive brief
Perplexity's new "Teammates" agents only run on its $200/month Max plan. For a promotional period they cost nothing extra. After that, a single heavy task can take thousands of credits, and Max includes 10,000 a month. Each Teammate is an always-on agent with its own role. It keeps working on a project for weeks, picks up the user's existing projects and memory from Perplexity Computer, and checks in with people over Slack. Perplexity is entering a market that OpenAI's Dots and Anthropic's Claude Duet entered only weeks earlier. No independent benchmarks or reliability data have been published.
What changed and event timeline
Computer debuts
Perplexity launched Computer for Max users. It splits a job into subtasks and hands them to sub-agents running on 19 models. A planned press demo was cancelled hours before it started because of flaws.
OpenAI ships Dots
OpenAI announced always-on agents powered by GPT-6 Astra at DevDay. Users can reach them through Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Computer goes local
Computer can now run fully offline on Apple-silicon Macs with at least 36GB of RAM, using Qwen 3.6 or PPLX Pro.
Anthropic answers
Anthropic launched Claude Duet, a proactive agent aimed at professionals and small businesses.
Teammates launch
Mobile is coming later, and Enterprise accounts are not included by default.
More detail
Capabilities and access
- Users give each Teammate a role and standing instructions. Each runs in its own thread. AlphaSignal
- Teammates take on the user's Computer projects, skills, memory, plugins and permissions. They work with other Teammates and message coworkers in Slack. Perplexity
- Which model they use is unclear.
Read the full section
- Users give each Teammate a role and standing instructions. Perplexity's examples include an on-call engineer, a legal research assistant and a storefront manager. Each runs in its own thread. AlphaSignal
- Teammates take on the user's Computer projects, skills, memory, plugins and permissions. They work with other Teammates and message coworkers in Slack. Perplexity
- Which model they use is unclear. Perplexity's product page shows "GPT-6 Astra" in its example screens, while i-scoop says Claude Opus 5.5 is the default and users can pick others.
- Max costs $200/month or $2,000/year and includes 10,000 credits. Extra credits cost $1 per 100. i-scoop
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
- Orchestration: Teammates run on Computer's planner, which breaks work into tasks, assigns a model to each, and brings in more agents as the work grows. AlphaSignal
- Isolation: Each Teammate gets its own desktop, browser session and cookie store. Perplexity
- Control: Escalation rules decide when a Teammate pings a human in Slack. Users can inspect the work, redirect it or take over manually. AlphaSignal
Read the full section
- Orchestration: Teammates run on Computer's planner, which breaks work into tasks, assigns a model to each, and brings in more agents as the work grows. AlphaSignal
- Isolation: Each Teammate gets its own desktop, browser session and cookie store. Perplexity
- Control: Escalation rules decide when a Teammate pings a human in Slack. Users can inspect the work, redirect it or take over manually. AlphaSignal
- Evaluation: Perplexity has published no benchmarks, task-success rates or long-run reliability data, so results cannot be reproduced. Perplexity
Claims and evidence
- Agents can own work for weeks, around the clock. This comes only from Perplexity and has not been tested independently.
- Credit costs per task.
- Vision: CEO Aravind Srinivas said he expects every organization to eventually have hundreds of Teammates per person.
Read the full section
- Agents can own work for weeks, around the clock. This comes only from Perplexity and has not been tested independently.
- Credit costs per task. The ranges come from Perplexity's own figures as reported by i-scoop: 350–950 credits for a research report, 2,400–9,800 for a data dashboard, and 15,000 or more for a multi-day build.
- Vision: CEO Aravind Srinivas said he expects every organization to eventually have hundreds of Teammates per person. This is an aspiration, not a forecast backed by data. The Verge
- Corroboration: Several outlets covered the launch, but none of them independently tested the product.
Context and prior work
- Teammates follow a series of Perplexity agent products: Computer in February, the Personal Computer Mac app in April, and fully local Computer in October.
- Rivals launched similar always-on agents in the same autumn: Meta Muse (Sep 8), OpenAI Dots (Sep 29) and Claude Duet (Oct 21). Tech Insider
- Perplexity's pitch has been that orchestrating many models beats relying on one. TechCrunch
Read the full section
- Teammates follow a series of Perplexity agent products: Computer in February, the Personal Computer Mac app in April, and fully local Computer in October.
- Rivals launched similar always-on agents in the same autumn: Meta Muse (Sep 8), OpenAI Dots (Sep 29) and Claude Duet (Oct 21). Tech Insider
- Perplexity's pitch has been that orchestrating many models beats relying on one. TechCrunch
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- Permissions: Because Teammates inherit the user's permissions, loosely written escalation rules can give an agent a wider practical reach than intended.
- Regulation and access: Data is processed in the US with no published GDPR processing agreement.
- Track record: Computer's cancelled launch demo is a reason to be cautious about Perplexity's reliability claims. TechCrunch
Read the full section
- Permissions: Because Teammates inherit the user's permissions, loosely written escalation rules can give an agent a wider practical reach than intended. AlphaSignal also flags long-run reliability, handoffs between agents, auditability and alert fatigue as concerns. AlphaSignal
- Regulation and access: Data is processed in the US with no published GDPR processing agreement. Many websites block agent browsers. i-scoop
- Track record: Computer's cancelled launch demo is a reason to be cautious about Perplexity's reliability claims. TechCrunch
- Model: Sources disagree on which model Teammates use by default.
Business and practitioner implications
- Budget for metered usage, not the subscription. Set credit caps before the free promotional period ends.
- Monitoring, triage and research are safer first jobs than anything customer-facing. EU rules require an AI that contacts customers to identify itself as AI.
- Dots is listed from $100 a month on ChatGPT Pro, half of Max's $200. Let's Data Science
Read the full section
- Budget for metered usage, not the subscription. Set credit caps before the free promotional period ends. The default spending cap is $200/month and can be raised to $5,000. i-scoop
- Start with internal work. Monitoring, triage and research are safer first jobs than anything customer-facing. EU rules require an AI that contacts customers to identify itself as AI.
- Check the price gap. Dots is listed from $100 a month on ChatGPT Pro, half of Max's $200. Let's Data Science
- Enterprise buyers should wait. Admin, audit and data-residency controls are not yet documented.
The source trail.
Sources (11)
Perplexity launches its own take on AI agents for work
Article text retrieved; extracted text may omit tables or interactive elements.
theverge.com