Ing. Calogero Bono
Perplexity has introduced Teammates, AI agents designed for work that stay active 24 hours a day. They can follow several tasks in parallel within a workspace and carry along projects, skills and memory from the Perplexity tools already in use. The startup enters the race with OpenAI and Anthropic, but charges a high price, $200 a month. For those who run a business, 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, in several steps, without you guiding every move. Always-on means always running, 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 with the agents.
What are Perplexity's Teammates?
They are AI agents for work, always active, that inside a workspace can take on several roles. According to The Verge they pick up projects, skills and memory from the Perplexity tools you already use. So you do not start from scratch.
HDblog gives 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 what is the difference with Computer?
The Teammates rely on Perplexity Computer. Perplexity says they build on top of it, offering the ability to collaborate and complete "continuous, large-scale work". For Punto Informatico the difference is this – Computer completes tasks, while the Teammates should take care of long and large 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 does it cost and who are the competitors?
You need Perplexity's Max plan, at $200 a month. The sources describe it as much more expensive than rivals. The comparisons cited are OpenAI's Dots and Claude's Duet, which offer the same idea of always-active agents with parallel tasks.
The math is ours. At $200 a month, a single Teammate costs $2,400 a year, not 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.
What is Perplexity's vision for the future?
CEO Aravind Srinivas wrote on X, as reported by The Verge, that "over time we imagine every organization with hundreds of collaborators working for every person". It is a statement of the company's intent, 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 topic of risks, we have already written about AI agents that lie to reach their goals.
Limits to know
The sources do not indicate availability dates, covered countries or usage limits of the Max plan. There are no independent tests on the quality of the agents' work, and the capabilities described are those claimed by Perplexity. It is unclear how many Teammates can be activated or how the security of business data 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 a month is a barrier. For those who work in digital fields, however, the idea is concrete – delegating research, drafts or development tasks 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 can access. If the integration goes through Slack, a clear rule is also needed on what gets written there.
Our take
The price is the real issue. At $200 a month Perplexity is aiming at professional clients, but it does so in a market where OpenAI and Anthropic already offer similar proposals. 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 one can have different tasks and carry them forward in parallel, using projects, skills and memory from Perplexity's tools.
How much do the Teammates cost?
You need Perplexity's Max plan, at $200 a month. The sources describe it as much more expensive than competitors.
How do you control the 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 with Perplexity Computer?
Computer sends agents to complete tasks on the device. The Teammates build on top of it to manage continuous, large-scale work, according to Perplexity.
Who are the competitors of the Teammates?
The sources cite OpenAI's Dots and Claude's Duet. They work in a similar way, with always-active agents and parallel tasks.
Teammates, what to watch in the coming months
The launch is only the beginning and many answers are still missing. It is worth watching prices, real results and accountability rules.
- Follow any independent tests on the quality of the Teammates' work compared with Dots and Duet.
- Check whether Perplexity opens access to plans cheaper than the $200 Max plan.
- Verify how the company clarifies data handling and responsibility in case of agent errors.
