The generative AI hype train is still picking up steam. I know some thought it would be off its rails by now but it appears not getting on it could be detrimental to one’s professional future. So, what if you want to get in on the action but you regularly do not have access to the internet?
You’re in luck because there are some AI chatbots that can run offline. You just need to download the thing and you’ll be good to go regardless of your data bundle status.
You can probably imagine that an offline AI chatbot could not possibly be as good as an online one. That’s true but you can still get the offline one to assist you with a lot of digital chores.
Freedom GPT
I messed around with one, Freedom GPT, and I have to say, it’s better than not having one. I prefer using Bard or Bing AI, but if Freedom GPT is all I had, using it would still be worthwhile.
Freedom GPT does have an online version but we are not here to talk about that.
Freedom GPT can generate text, translate languages, and answer questions even when offline. If you’re a privacy nut you’ll love having all conversations with it being stored locally on your computer.
Freedom GPT is open source and users can actually choose which open source model to use. The tech-head will appreciate that but if all you are after is offline use, then I’d say do not fret too much about which open-source model to use.
For those that may want to know, Freedom GPT leverages Stanford’s Alpaca models.
No censorship
One of the great things about Freedom GPT is that it is not censored. Not by any company and not by any government.
See, the likes of Bard have content filters to protect users from offensive, hateful or untrue things. Untrue stuff often leaks out regardless.
As you know, the moment we talk of filters, we also talk of bias. One man’s fake news is another man’s gospel.
I’m sure you have seen examples of ChatGPT refusing to say anything positive that Donal Trump did. Not even the brokerage of peace in the Middle East. You don’t have to like the guy to realise that he must have done something good at one point in his four-year term.
It’s not just politics. The censored AIs steer clear of politics, general comparisons, and some other specific ideologies.
That won’t be a problem with Freedom GPT. It will deliver responses based on whatever data it was trained on.
Could they be offensive? You best believe it but you can rest easy knowing no one is the arbiter of what’s truth and what’s not. You can sift through the muck yourself.
That feels like the perfect time to remind ourselves that AI models are mainly trained on public writing and data found online. This data has its own biases and Freedom GPT will spew whatever those are.
What you need to use Freedom GPT
They recommend a computer with at least 8GB of RAM, with anything above 10GB providing the best experience.
Your computer also needs to be running Windows 10/11, Linux or MacOS. Windows 7 users may be out of luck. It might work, but it might not for you, you can try it out if you want.
Lastly, you need to run the app from an SSD. We have talked about how RAM plus an SSD could save you from buying a brand new laptop. An SSD is “essentially like a flash or thumb drive that works in your computer or as an external hard drive.”
You need that and not the old hard drives, they are too slow to be able to run Freedom GPT from.
Last last, you will need about 4GB of data to download Freedom GPT for offline use.
If you are good with all that, you can download Freedom GPT here.
There you go, give Freedom GPT a try if you need an offline AI with you sometimes. If you do, please let us know how it all goes.
Also read:
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22 comments
The system requirements for Freedom GPT is ridiculous 8GB RAM, but on the other note it seems to be an AI worth exploring as it is censor free. Hopefully it will be a much better AI than Truth GPT and also tailored to the Zimbabwe market.
It’s not tailored to the Zimbabwean market.
If you mean TruthGPT yaElon I believe it’s a WIP and will be released along with X. How do you know it’s not better anyways 🧐
Should be interesting.
Tengai RAM😂🤣😂🤣
On the download pop-up it says minimum 16Gb RAM is needed.
Yes, but it has been tested on computers with less RAM and it’s somewhat doable.
You must be wary of things downloaded of the internet. Just because it ends in GPT does that mean it’s safe or genuine. It might work, but these apps usually run unrestricted on your machine.
Some gpt tools have been found to host secret guests.
Well it’s open source. Clone the repo to your machine and build it like ana zivai.app or danai chat.
Unless you build it yourself from source, the executable can contain anything.
Now, how many people do you think are doing that?
I would agree that one should be wary when dealing with stuff like this. The advice that Issac gives is solid but many won’t know what that even means, let alone how to do it. So, I guess we can say, if you’re not willing to do some Reditting, GitHubbing and due diligence, don’t install stuff like this. Although if you proceed, be comforted in the fact that some have tested Freedom GPT nad found it clean and safe, whatever that’s worth.
Nice 🙂👍 seems like a great opportunity to ask disturbing things
You know it 🤣
Hmmmm… If you can afford to download something that size, to run it on a PC with those specs, then you probably don’t need an offline version of anything. Also the problem with the censorship angle is that if left unchecked, ChatGPT can easily write a well articulated and extremely compelling sexist or racist article in under a minute. LLMs also lie often and many people and organisations that didn’t know that have been publicly embarrassed.
You have a point there. The computer specs required will disqualify those that would most get the most benefit from an offline AI. However, for those that travel or live in neighbourhoods that get bad reception it could be something. Especially when ZESA returns to normal with its 16-hour blackouts and the MNOs don’t fuel their base stations.
And yeah, the uncensored AI is a double edged sword, to be used with caution.
Thank you Leonard. But 8gb plus seem to be on a higher side for ordinary computing needs
Ya, these things require plenty of RAM. 8GB is not even enough for a decent experience. It’s just the nature of the tasks it would be doing. It is high but current tech does not allow us to use anything less.
How much RAM do people have? I don’t not even remember that time I’ve had RAM less than 8GB. Isn’t that the minimum for Windows 11?
64gb here. Actually need more as some of the datasets i work with consume up to 40GB of ram.
I’m a bit surprised that 8gb is being discussed as though it was a high end spec. I guess my perspective been influenced by working in my industry coz to me, it’s been the bare minimum for so many years.
i have 128GB of ram in my PC
the program runs about 4500MB
i also asked it this
how much ram do you require?
this is the response
To run a modern operating system and application, a minimum of 4GB of RAM is recommended. However, depending on the specific use case, more RAM may be necessary. For example, if you are running a virtual machine, you may need more RAM to ensure adequate performance.
so anyone with less than 8GB can run this
BARD AI the right alternative for ChatGPT
Interesting indeed
Which other alternatives have been tested and what are their respective minimum requirements and draw backs?