Summary
Alex Ziskind tests Perplexity’s new hybrid compute feature, which splits an AI task between cloud models and a small model running on your own Mac. The goal is to get the strength of frontier models without sending bank statements, medical records or other private files off the machine.
The video installs the Perplexity Computer Mac app, enables its privacy gate, and runs it on three machines: a 16 GB MacBook Air, a 32 GB M6 Mac mini and a 128 GB MacBook Pro. Local orchestrator options include the open-weights Gemma 4 E4B (about 6.6 GB, 16 GB of RAM), Qwen 3.6 35B and Perplexity’s own 19 GB model, both needing 32 GB. The 16 GB machine can only run the smallest option.
For the test, the host uses sample bank statements, internet bills and a service agreement, then adds a pile of real paperwork including a medical record and a parking ticket. The privacy gate, powered by an open-source PII Tracer model on Hugging Face, flags personal information and asks whether to process it locally. The cloud handles planning and web research while the local model works on the private files. Perplexity sponsored the video.
📺 Source: Alex Ziskind · Published October 20, 2026
🏷️ Format: Review
