Perplexity—the AI-driven search engine positioning itself as a Google rival—unveiled Perplexity Labs on Thursday as part of its \$20/month Pro subscription. This new feature lets subscribers generate everything from detailed reports and spreadsheets to interactive dashboards and custom mini-apps.
Labs is already accessible via the web, iOS, and Android, with Mac and Windows apps “coming soon.” According to Perplexity’s blog, Labs is tailored for tasks that require more sustained effort—around ten minutes or longer—and leverages advanced capabilities such as file generation and on-the-fly app creation.
Arriving the same day that viral AI agent platform Manus introduced its own slide-deck maker, Perplexity Labs marks another step in Perplexity’s push beyond pure search. The company is also testing a browser called Comet and recently acquired Read.vc, a professional social network.
Under the hood, Labs combines web search, code execution, and dynamic chart and image production to perform research, analyze data, and assemble polished deliverables. It can even spin up interactive web applications and generate code to organize data, apply formulas, and build documents. All outputs—charts, images, scripts, etc.—are neatly stored in a dedicated tab for easy previewing or download.
Of course, AI tools aren’t flawless, so results may sometimes miss the mark. We’ll hold off on final judgment until we’ve taken Labs for a full test drive. Meanwhile, Perplexity has doubled down on enterprise customers too: last summer it rolled out an enterprise plan featuring user management and “internal knowledge search.” And with venture backers likely pressing for quicker returns, Perplexity is reportedly courting up to \$1 billion in new funding at an \$18 billion valuation.
