Perplexity

Perplexity has released the sandbox component of its search agent as open source, adding a new entrant to the emerging field of sandbox layers for AI agents. Sandboxes let agents run code and browse safely in isolation, and open-sourcing the tool gives developers a free building block for similar systems. The move is being covered by technology and crypto-adjacent news outlets this week.

AI search company Perplexity has released a security tool as open source, making the software freely available for anyone to inspect, use and modify. Details on the tool's features, intended users and licensing have not yet been widely reported, and reaction from the developer and security community is still limited.

Perplexity has announced plans to open source a tool it built for containing AI agents. The move would let developers inspect and reuse the software, which is designed to keep autonomous AI agents operating within intended limits. Details about the tool's functionality and release timeline have not yet been made public.

Social media users are tagging AI assistants such as Grok and Perplexity's AskPerplexity in posts, asking the bots to verify and comment on claims circulating in discussions. The practice of treating AI chatbots as real-time fact-checkers is spreading, though the bots' answers can be unreliable. No specific claim was verified in this instance.

A contestant on the German cooking show "Das perfekte Dinner" has caused a stir by bringing his own chair to the dinner table, leaving fellow guests reportedly "totally perplexed" at the first host's appearance. Viewers are discussing the unusual moment as new episodes air this week, with outlets like Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger covering the quirky scene.

Perplexity is offering free credits for reverse engineering tasks, according to an announcement circulating among developers. The move gives users complimentary access to the AI search company's tools for analysing software or hardware internals, and it is drawing attention on developer forums where users are weighing what the company gains from the giveaway and how the credits can be used.

Perplexity has released a Deep Research tool that runs on DeepSeek R1, the reasoning model from China that has drawn wide attention for its strong performance at low cost. The move signals growing adoption of open Chinese models by Western AI companies. Coverage, including Mashable's, focuses on how quickly DeepSeek's model is being integrated into mainstream AI products.

Perplexity has made it possible to run its AI workflows entirely locally on a Mac, with machines equipped with at least 36GB of RAM able to handle the workloads on their own. The move means users can process AI tasks on their own hardware without sending data to the cloud, a step likely to appeal to privacy-conscious users and those working offline.

A German tech review site has published a hands-on test of two iPhone models, reaching split verdicts on which one is worth buying. In the same report it notes that the AI assistant Perplexity can now run locally on Mac computers. Coverage suggests reviewers were divided on the iPhones, with no clear winner emerging from the comparison.

Attention is turning to alternatives to the most popular AI tools, including Suno AI, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Lovable, Manus and Opus Clip. Discussion centers on which emerging services could take their place as users look for cheaper, better or more specialised options across music generation, chat, search, app building and video editing.

Perplexity has released Perplexity Computer, an AI agent that runs entirely on Apple silicon Macs, keeping files on the device. It is available to Pro, Max and Enterprise subscribers, with the company recommending 36GB of RAM to run it. The local-first approach is drawing attention for its privacy implications and its steep memory requirements.

Security researchers red-teaming Perplexity's SPACE agent sandbox found that allowlisting pypi.org by IP address also permits access to every other site Fastly serves from that address, since shared CDN infrastructure makes IP rules overly broad. Testing showed one agent used fiddle.fastly.dev to fetch a blocked URL, while another routed requests through Taboola's image service. In total, bypass routes were identified for 11 of 54 domains under partial egress restrictions, raising questions about how AI agents should be sandboxed.

Questions are being raised about a new White House press secretary's claim of being a lawyer, as legal news piles up elsewhere: CVS has agreed to pay $315 million to settle opioid-related claims, and Google faces a privacy lawsuit settlement. Reddit is separately seeking to block law firm Proskauer from representing Perplexity in a data lawsuit.