I wrote this over the holidays because I couldn't shake the feeling that we have a narrow window before Apple/Google ship "local" AI that's local in marketing only.
The manifesto covers the philosophical case (cypherpunk roots, enshittification, architectural immunity), but the real urgency is in the companion piece: https://www.localghost.ai/inflection
The TL;DR: personal AI is the final extraction layer — not just what you search for, but how you think. If that data flows to central servers by default, the capture is complete.
Hardware is commoditizing (sub-$200 NPU boards by mid-2026), but the software defaults are being set now.
Full honesty: LocalGhost is a vision, not a product. No working software yet, just architecture and this site. The Freehold Directory is real though — a /.well-known/freehold.json standard for local-first projects to declare their principles and get discovered.
If someone builds this faster and better, great. The goal is that the alternative exists.
zerocool86•1h ago
The manifesto covers the philosophical case (cypherpunk roots, enshittification, architectural immunity), but the real urgency is in the companion piece: https://www.localghost.ai/inflection
The TL;DR: personal AI is the final extraction layer — not just what you search for, but how you think. If that data flows to central servers by default, the capture is complete.
Hardware is commoditizing (sub-$200 NPU boards by mid-2026), but the software defaults are being set now.
Full honesty: LocalGhost is a vision, not a product. No working software yet, just architecture and this site. The Freehold Directory is real though — a /.well-known/freehold.json standard for local-first projects to declare their principles and get discovered.
If someone builds this faster and better, great. The goal is that the alternative exists.