To be clear:

In the grand scheme of things, I don't know sh*t about computers. I'm not in IT or data science. What I am is an environmentalist and an active listener, and I'm not one to grouse about something without trying to find a better alternative.

AI is here to stay, whether we like it or not. Most people are using it (they may or may not be admitting this openly), and the strain on our grid and environment is no secret.

This website takes the approach of progress, not perfection. That means I'm going to give you good/better/best options, and there will be updates as tech improves or becomes obsolete.

As such, it's imperative to note that no normal human could possibly keep up with all of these developments, so if you see something that could be better than what I have listed, by all means hop on over to our subreddit and join the discussion.

While the setups touted on this website may not be perfect, they are a vast improvement to running most AI queries on the web.

You may have times where your local tools may not be enough, and for those times, by all means, go the classic route. (And remember: progress over perfection.)

But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at just how much you can do with your own machine...and each time you opt for local, you're keeping your data safe and saving energy (in miniscule amounts that really add up).

Every little bit helps, so let's fuggin' GO:

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PRIVATE BY DEFAULT

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DATA CENTERS REQUIRED

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CONVERSATIONS PER DAY

yours:

EVERYTHING YOU GENERATE

EXPLORE THE HUB

Getting Started

Why run AI locally, and how to take your first steps.

Models + tools

Hardware guide

I

Specs by budget, home servers, power efficiency.

Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp ...and what runs where.

II

III

IV

V

Resource library

Specs + Visuals

Curated links — news, repos, papers, communities.

Diagrams, digital "ecosystem" maps, ideas board.

Why Bother Running AI Locally?

Data centers are now consuming power faster than we can build more infrastructure. Coal plants slated to shut down are being resurrected to cover the energy deficit. In some regions, data center demand is projected to outpace all residential electricity use combined — within five years.

Hospitals are on those grids. Water treatment plants. People on home oxygen and dialysis. Meanwhile, fresh water is being drained from drought-stressed watersheds to keep servers cool: water that farming communities, wildlife and municipal supplies depend on to survive.

Communities near facilities suffer chronic noise, heat islands and aquifer depletion. The people living closest to this infrastructure are overwhelmingly low-income, with the least political power to fight back. And the AI boom has barely started.

Then there's what happens to your data once it arrives. Companies like Palantir have built billion-dollar businesses selling surveillance infrastructure to governments. ICE, the Pentagon, local police departments...all powered by data you generated, data you never consented to share, data that is being used right now to monitor, profile and target people. Your search history. Your location. Your medical questions. Your political views.

The Fourth Amendment was written to protect you from exactly this kind of warrantless intrusion into your private life. It was not written for a world where you hand that information over voluntarily every time you open a browser tab, but here we are. The architecture of the modern internet was designed to make surveillance frictionless, and AI made it exponential.

You are not powerless. Running AI locally is a direct act of refusal: quiet, effective resistance. Your data stays on your machine. Your queries feed no surveillance engine.

Look; this won't dismantle Palantir. It won't fix the grid overnight. But it removes you from the equation, and it keeps your corner of the internet yours. Each person who does this makes the extractive model slightly less profitable and comes that much closer to normalizing the alternative. This is how things change.

Start small, build where you can. It's simpler than you think.