Ing. Calogero Bono
Perplexity has unveiled Teammates, AI agents built for work that stay active 24 hours a day. They can handle several tasks in parallel inside a workspace and carry along projects, skills and memory from the Perplexity tools you already use. The startup is thus entering the race with OpenAI and Anthropic, but it asks for a high price, 200 dollars a month. For those who run a company, the question is whether a software colleague is worth that amount.
A few terms before we get into the facts. AI agent is a program that carries out tasks on its own, across several steps, without you guiding every move. Always-on means switched on at all times, even when you are not using it. Perplexity Computer is the company's system that sends agents to work on your device. Thread is the conversation dedicated to a single task. Slack is the business messaging app where you can talk to the agents.
What are Perplexity's Teammates?
They are always-on AI agents for work that, inside a workspace, can take on several roles. According to The Verge they draw projects, skills and memory from the Perplexity tools you already use. You do not start from scratch.
HDblog offers an example. One Teammate can handle a research task, another can follow a development project and a third can prepare company materials, all at the same time.
How they work and how they differ from Computer
Teammates rely on Perplexity Computer. Perplexity says they build on top of it, offering the ability to collaborate and complete "ongoing, large-scale work". For Punto Informatico the difference is this. Computer handles tasks, while Teammates should take care of long and substantial work.
Each agent has its own thread in the Perplexity app, where you check the status of the activity. You can also message it on Slack.
How much it costs and who the competitors are
You need Perplexity's Max plan, at 200 dollars a month. The sources describe it as far more expensive than rivals. The comparisons cited are OpenAI's Dots and Claude's Duet, which offer the same idea of always-on agents with parallel tasks.
The math is ours. At 200 dollars a month, a single Teammate costs 2,400 dollars a year, without counting other tools. The sources do not say whether the plan includes one or more agents, so the real cost for a team remains to be verified.
Perplexity's vision for the future
CEO Aravind Srinivas wrote on X, as The Verge reports, that "over time we imagine every organization with hundreds of collaborators working for every person". It is a statement of the company's intentions, not a fact.
Punto Informatico raises the practical issue. It remains to be seen who will give the orders, who will check the work and who will be responsible if something goes wrong. On the subject of risks, we have already written about AI agents that lie to reach their goals.
Limits to know
The sources give no availability dates, covered countries or usage limits for the Max plan. There are no independent tests of the quality of the agents' work, and the capabilities described are those claimed by Perplexity. It is not clear how many Teammates can be activated or how company data security is handled. The price or conditions could change.
What changes for those who work in digital fields
For now, little changes for those with a limited budget, because 200 dollars a month is a barrier. For those who work in digital fields, however, the idea is concrete. Delegating research, drafts or development work to an agent that never stops. The trend is close to that of coding agents coordinated in parallel. Before adopting a tool like this, it is worth defining who supervises the results and which data the agent may touch. If the integration runs through Slack, a clear rule is also needed on what gets written there.
Our take
The price is the real issue. At 200 dollars a month Perplexity is aiming at professional clients, but it does so in a market where OpenAI and Anthropic already have similar offers. The promise of hundreds of agents per person is appealing, but today it looks more like a slogan than a plan. Until responsibility for errors is clarified, an always-on agent remains a risk to manage, not just a time saver. We would wait for independent tests before spending.
Frequently asked questions
What are Perplexity's Teammates?
They are AI agents for work, active 24 hours a day. Each can have different tasks and carry them forward in parallel, using projects, skills and memory from Perplexity's tools.
How much do Teammates cost?
You need Perplexity's Max plan, at 200 dollars a month. The sources describe it as much more expensive than competitors.
How do you control Teammates?
Each agent has a thread in the Perplexity app where you can follow its progress. You can also interact with it on Slack.
What is the difference from Perplexity Computer?
Computer sends agents to complete tasks on the device. Teammates build on top of it to manage ongoing, large-scale work, according to Perplexity.
Who are Teammates' competitors?
The sources cite OpenAI's Dots and Claude's Duet. They work in a similar way, with always-on agents and parallel tasks.
Teammates, what to watch in the coming months
The launch is only the beginning and many answers are missing. It is worth keeping an eye on prices, real results and rules of responsibility.
- Follow any independent tests on the quality of Teammates' work compared with Dots and Duet.
- Check whether Perplexity opens access to plans cheaper than the 200-dollar Max plan.
- Verify how the company clarifies data handling and responsibility when agents make mistakes.
