Perplexity turns on AI automations in Computer

Perplexity has launched Automations, a feature in Computer that lets you assign recurring tasks to an AI agent and have it continue the work using memory from previous runs.

The difference from a conventional scheduled task is significant: Computer does not start from scratch each time. It can review what it did before, detect what changed and continue from there. A weekly competitor report, for example, can compare current prices with those from the previous week and flag only the relevant changes.

Tasks that run on their own

Automations can run on a schedule or when a specific event occurs. Perplexity lets you connect them to tools such as Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Linear and GitHub.

You can configure, for example:

• Every Monday at 8:00, review competitor prices, update a spreadsheet and summarize the changes.
• Analyze an email from a specific customer when they request a decision, check the account history and alert the person responsible.
• Prepare customer responses using previous conversations and related files.
• Investigate a Linear issue marked as ready, modify the code and open a change request for human review.

You can also add conditions to avoid unnecessary runs. An automation could run only if the message comes from a specific sender and contains a decision request.

It also watches for what does not happen

The feature is not only for doing things. It can also detect pending tasks. You can ask it to notify you if a deployment planned for Tuesday has not been completed by Wednesday morning, or if a priority account has gone four days without responding.

On each run, Computer reviews the work history and compares what was still pending with what has happened since the last review. That lets it flag forgotten follow-ups, overdue dates or updates that have not been published.

You decide what it can do

To create an automation, you can describe the work directly in the Computer bar or open the Automations section and select a new one. You then define:

• The outcome you want.
• The sources and tools it can access.
• Where it should leave the result, such as a Gmail draft or a Slack channel.
• Which actions it can perform on its own and which require approval.

For example, you can allow it to draft an update but require a person to review it before it is posted to Slack. Administrators can also restrict connectors, accessible data and available actions.

Each automation includes its history: what event triggered it, what it produced and what its status is. You can also edit or pause it when the work changes priority. While it waits for a schedule or event, it does not consume credits. Credits are spent only when it runs the task.

The old Scheduled Tasks appear inside this new section and can be migrated when you open them. The feature is available to Computer users.

The change makes Computer more like an operations assistant than a chat you have to return to with every instruction. The important part will be setting permissions and reviews correctly: the more work it does without intervention, the more important it becomes to control what information it uses and which actions it can complete automatically.