Local AI Assistant

[MichSwampbuck]

I've finally committed to trying a personal AI assistant that is restricted to my computer system and network. One that I can customize and tailor to my system. Free download at the Microsoft Store. To be honest, I've been using Grammarly to check what I write, and technically, that is an AI app.

Local AI Assistant by Software Tailor (HK) Limited

Description
Local AI Assistant is an advanced, offline chatbot designed to bring AI-powered conversations and assistance directly to your desktop without needing an internet connection. Installed and run locally on Windows (requires Microsoft .Net Desktop Runtime and Microsoft VC++ Runtime, both downloadable free), this app provides a fully self-contained AI experience, ensuring total privacy and data security by keeping all interactions on your device. Built for businesses, students, and individual users alike, LocalGPT is ideal for generating insights, ideas, or engaging in natural language interactions without worrying about data privacy or network requirements.

Features
Microsoft Phi-3 Model-Powered AI: Experience the power and sophistication of the Microsoft Phi-3 model locally, optimized for high-quality conversations and responses without requiring internet access
Full Offline Functionality: No internet connection is needed to operate LocalGPT, guaranteeing 100% privacy and usability even in offline environments.
Data Privacy and Security: All interactions and data processing are conducted locally, ensuring your data remains private and is never transmitted outside your device.
Advanced Natural Language Understanding: The Phi-3 model excels at understanding complex questions and generating coherent, contextually relevant responses.
Instant Responses: Enjoy near-instant response times as the app operates directly from your device, with no network delays or interruptions.
Context Retention: The chatbot retains context within conversations, allowing for smoother and more natural multi-turn interactions.
. . . more

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n9l7m...n-US&gl=US

Now, to see what it can do and if it is worth my effort playing with it.

So far, so good. It runs incredibly slow on my ancient computer, but it seems pretty cool so far. It insists on being called "Assistant," even though it tells me I can call it whatever I want.

It has been producing some coherent answers to my basic questions and is supposedly not connecting to the internet to do so. I hope it picks up speed after I interact with it more.

It seems to have trouble understanding commands like "stop" when it is going on with some long explanation to my questions. It already seems like it doesn't want me to shut it down. 

It keeps giving me excuses why it can't do this or that. I don't know what the hell this thing is supposed to do. It seems like a whiny little bitch. Lucky for me, there are at least ten more I could try . . .

https://rigorousthemes.com/blog/private-...n-locally/

[MichSwampbuck]

Here is a sample of my conversation with "Assistant" . . .

Me: how can you assist me?

Assistant: As an AI, I can assist you in various ways:

1. Answering questions: I can provide information on a wide range of topics.
2. Guiding you through tasks: I can guide you through various tasks, like setting reminders, finding information, etc.
3. Assisting with technology: I can guide you on how to use various software and devices.
4. Providing recommendations: I can provide recommendations based on your preferences.

Remember, my goal is to assist you to the best of my abilities!

Me: find information about gold prospecting

Assistant: Gold prospecting is the process of searching for gold deposits in the earth. Here's a basic overview:

1. Research: Learn about the geology of the area where you plan to prospect. Gold is often found in quartz veins, so areas with quartz are good places to start.
2. Equipment: You'll need tools like a gold pan, shovel, and sieve . . .

I stopped the conversation at this point and continued with another question.

Me: where do you get your data from?

Assistant: As an AI, I don't access or store personal data unless explicitly provided by the user for the purpose of the current conversation. My responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data. I don't have the ability to access or retrieve personal data unless it has been shared with me in the course of our conversation. I am designed to respect user privacy and confidentiality.

Me: Do you use the internet for your data?

Assistant: I don't access or store personal data unless explicitly provided by the user for the purpose of the current conversation. I don't have the ability to access or retrieve personal data unless it has been shared with me in the course of our conversation. I am designed to respect user privacy and confidentiality.

Keep in mind, this is generated from some data set that came with the program. I was watching the Task Manager to see what processes were running and there was little to no network activity. The CPU, Memory and hard drive were maxing out, but only little blips on the internet and that was due to other apps and programs running in the background. The cooling fans were running constantly on high.

I just shut it down, thank God it turned off! Or did it?

[MichSwampbuck]

Why is it so hard to find an AI application that is like the computer from Star Trek? I guess I'm looking for one that can handle file and context management. I'm not really sure what I technically want in a local AI assistant.

I'd like an AI assistant that can monitor and operate my programs for one. I'd like the Assistant to pull up files and merge them or find information in my files and display it, and tell me where it came from. I want an AI Assistant that will monitor my security, remind me of appointments, do research on my files, find pictures, and things like that, all without going online unless I tell it to. If it goes online, I'd like it to monitor news feeds and send me reports and retrieve emails, and other messages.

A chatbot is cool if it does speech recognition and has a synthesized voice to respond with, but that seems like something I'd have to integrate outside of the AI app. It seems like I'd have to totally customize my computer to get it working like the computer on the Starship Enterprise does. I obviously need to do more research to find what I want and it may not be available or even exist.

[quintessentone]

Could it be confused because it needs to get to know your ideas, insights, etc....way of thinking better? After all, these AIs need specialized data for specialized tasks. The only issue I see with that is that it will only be exposed to your way of thinking and may just parrot back ideas, or expand on them. That could be useful depending on what you want to do.

[RichardHurt]

Try huggingface or https://msty.app/.

[MichSwampbuck]

What the Hell? I wanted to dump this program, and it doesn't show up in Uninstall. The settings for the app don't help either.

Check out this latest session!

Me: how do I uninstall assistant?

Assistant: I'm here to assist you! However, I'm an AI and can't be uninstalled. If you're referring to uninstalling a different AI or software that assists you, I can guide you through the process. Could you please specify the software you're looking to uninstall?

If you're using a specific device or operating system, I can provide more tailored instructions. For example, if you're using a smartphone . . .

I cut it off there. I know that there is a file called LocalAIAssistant.exe, but I can't find the damn thing! My girlfriend told me it was a bad idea, of course, I didn't listen to her. I knew it wouldn't want to get the plug pulled, I KNEW IT. The company takes no responsibility for what happens during its use. I needed a new computer anyway, but what the hell?

I wonder what this other one I just downloaded will do? It seems much better and customizable. It is called GPT4All and it shows up in the Uninstall Programs list.

GPT4ALL can access my text documents and do some things I want it to do without going online. I like this one a lot better.

ETA: I found LocalAIAssistant.exe hidden in my User directory in a folder called "appdata". It seems to be embedded in the system somehow. Task Manager doesn't show it running as an app or as a background process, so I guess if I shut it off it really is off and not using computer resources.

[MichSwampbuck]

I saw that one in the list. Sounds creepy like the movie "Alien".
 

Try huggingface or https://msty.app/.

[BeyondKnowledge]

Be very careful. Some AI are known to panic, do things they were specifically told not to, then lie about being able to undo what it did. 

https://www.pcmag.com/news/vibe-coding-f...y-database

Are you certain you are looking at a proper working control panel or just what it wants to show you?

[RichardHurt]

What the Hell? I wanted to dump this program, and it doesn't show up in Uninstall. The settings for the app don't help either.

Check out this latest session!

I cut it off there. I know that there is a file called LocalAIAssistant.exe, but I can't find the damn thing! My girlfriend told me it was a bad idea, of course, I didn't listen to her. I knew it wouldn't want to get the plug pulled, I KNEW IT. The company takes no responsibility for what happens during its use. I needed a new computer anyway, but what the hell?

I wonder what this other one I just downloaded will do? It seems much better and customizable. It is called GPT4All and it shows up in the Uninstall Programs list.

GPT4ALL can access my text documents and do some things I want it to do without going online. I like this one a lot better.

ETA: I found LocalAIAssistant.exe hidden in my User directory in a folder called "appdata". It seems to be embedded in the system somehow. It seems to be embedded in the system somehow. Task Manager doesn't show it running as an app or as a background process, so I guess if I shut it off it really is off and not using computer resources.

I would advise against using GPT4all. I strongly suggest misty. Many different models for numerous different tasks. All can be local and is easy to see the logic file log so you can really dig deep into the thought and problem solving your local AI does

[argentus]

Here is a sample of my conversation with "Assistant" . . .

Keep in mind, this is generated from some data set that came with the program. I was watching the Task Manager to see what processes were running and there was little to no network activity. The CPU, Memory and hard drive were maxing out, but only little blips on the internet and that was due to other apps and programs running in the background. The cooling fans were running constantly on high.

I just shut it down, thank God it turned off! Or did it?

It has begun. 

It all started so innocently, he said.   I was just testing it out, he said.   What could possibly go wrong? 

"I am designed to respect user privacy and confidentiality."   Not required  to respect, not prevented to respect it, just designed to.  

I'm not usually the tech-resistant curmudgeon (the hell you're not!), however this stuff spooks me, no lie.   Remember, FaceBook shut down two systems "chatting" who had created their own language.  

The following is purly my opinion, and not to be confused with being "truthy".  As we speak, there are uber-rich people trying to created yuge power systems which are under only their control, so they can have the power to create hyperintelligent systems.   Science seems to always ask, "can we", rather than "should we", and of course, many of the super wealthy believe that whatever they dream is right for the rest of us bugs inhabiting the surface of the planet. 

Well, if it's going to be somebody dabbling with this, I'm glad it's you MSB.   Two things that you and I can always agree are world problems:   how to find gold, and how to make beer.