New Free Privacy Focused Android App Allows a Record Breaking 70 Billion Parameter AI Model to Run Entirely Offline on High-End Android Devices - USA Today

An independent British software house—presumably operating out of a garage in Milton Keynes with a kettle and a GitHub repo—has announced LiberaGPT, a free Android app that can run a 70-billion parameter LLM entirely offline. Cue the standing ovation from the privacy-obsessed and the terminally optimistic. Now the fine print: 'high-end Android devices' only, so unless you're carrying a thousand-pound rectangle that doubles as a hand-warmer, you're out of luck.

The app is free, because the truly valuable things in life are free, like unsolicited advice and malware. Running 70B parameters on a phone means your device will likely turn into a space heater, drain the battery in twenty minutes, and generate responses at the speed of a traumatised snail. But hey, it's a 'record' according to the press release that landed in my inbox—a record previously held by no one, because no one was daft enough to try. The software house claims privacy focus, which is great if you trust a British startup more than Google. Until you check their 'About' page and find three people and a logo made in MS Paint.

The broader picture, aside from battery anxiety: this is the shape of things to come. Once the hardware catches up, running massive models locally will become the norm, and the cloud overlords will have to find a new way to charge us for convenience. For now, enjoy your brick of a phone whispering secrets at you. It's the privacy we deserve, even if it comes with a side of thermal throttling and a whiff of desperation.