Perplexity has now rolled out “Perplexity Labs,” a new tool for its Pro subscribers. Available on the web, iOS, and Android, with Mac and Windows app support coming soon, Labs is designed to transform ideas into tangible deliverables such as detailed reports, dynamic spreadsheets, interactive dashboards, and even simple web applications. This release marks a major expansion beyond Perplexity’s core search capabilities. Perplexity frames Labs as akin to having a “team” available, contrasting it with a “answer machine” available 24/7.
Perplexity Labs can conduct extensive research and analysis, operating in focused cycles of 10 minutes or longer. Unlike traditional AI assistants that primarily deliver information, Labs takes a “hands-on” approach. It leverages a suite of integrated tools, including deep web Browse, code execution, and the generation of charts and images, to produce comprehensive outputs. This positions Perplexity Labs within the emerging category of AI agents, which are designed to go beyond simple conversational responses to autonomously plan and execute multi-step tasks, mimicking aspects of human project management. It will also be useful for users – for the average user, the ability to generate structured reports, meal plans, or personal budgets with minimal effort can boost their productivity and organization. Professionals can leverage Labs for multiple purposes – marketing professionals can quickly generate comprehensive plans, financial analysts can produce detailed spreadsheets and dashboards quickly, to name some.
The company announced that Labs can generate and organize a wide array of files, from CSVs and code to visual aids, all housed neatly in a separate “Assets” tab for easy viewing and download. Interactive tools like dashboards or slideshows are accessible through a separate “App” tab. This makes Perplexity Labs different from other AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini – they excel at conversational interactions and text generation. Perplexity Labs, however, is explicitly designed to produce tangible files like CSVs, charts, images, and mini-apps.
“Labs can craft everything from reports and spreadsheets to dashboards and simple web apps — all backed by extensive research and analysis. Often performing 10 minutes or more of self-supervised work, Perplexity Labs use a suite of tools like deep web browsing, code execution, and chart and image creation to turn your ideas and to-do’s into work that’s been done. Labs can accomplish in 10 minutes what would previously have taken days of work, tedious research, and coordination of many different skills. Most importantly, the magic behind Labs is what Perplexity is best known for — accurate answers that help you make better decisions,” Perplexity announced in an official blog post.
This comes at a time when the company has been increasingly investing in corporate-focused functionality, evidenced by the launch of an enterprise plan (Perplexity Enterprise Pro) last summer. Perplexity is also working on a new web browser, Comet (which it describes as a “browser for agentic search”), and acquired Read.vc, a social media network designed for professionals, earlier this year. As mentioned earlier, Perplexity Labs is exclusively available to subscribers of Perplexity’s Pro plan, priced at $20 per month. And while Perplexity directly challenges Google in search, Labs also comes with a wider array of AI-driven productivity platforms and even specialized tools for data analysis, reporting, and web app development, such as those offered by Microsoft’s Copilot or OpenAI’s custom GPTs.
