This newsletter falls into a very weird spot. There are readers in this community that fall on both sides of the fence when it comes to AI. Because of this, I tend to tiptoe around the subject, giving just enough to engage the enthusiast, but not enough to deter the folks against AI.
But now, I’m realizing that’s unsustainable — at least for me. (intentional em-dash).
As a software dev, I use AI daily. In fact, it’s pretty much expected in my field these days and I see why. I see the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to these tools. I’d be doing you a disservice by not talking more about the tools I’m using, how to get the most out of them, the state of the industry, and pitfalls to watch out for.
So we’re gonna get started on that today.
Now for my friends that may be on the fence or completely against AI, I encourage you to stick around. I, too, am a skeptic when it comes to the ethics of Anthropic, OpenAI, etc. but it’s hard to deny how powerful these tools can be when used in the right way, and there are big things coming that are going to reshape the landscape.
Local AI is coming.
Like you, I’m sick of hearing about these data centers popping up across the US. It’s sad to see the environmental impacts, as well as the community impacts of these resource-hogging facilities. I am not necessarily against a facility like this, but there needs to be a better way to build them (and power them).
Being a realist, I understand that the train can only be slowed, not stopped. The powers that be will continue to push forward. Luckily, one of those is changing the way that they deliver AI to their users. It’s not OpenAI, it’s not Claude, and it’s definitely not Google.
It’s Apple.
The Mac Mini is proof.
Apple recently released their updated lineup of Mac Minis & Mac Studios with their latest and greatest silicon. Along with a price hike (woohoo…not), these computers got a massive buff in compute power, with options for up to 64gb of RAM & a whopping 8tb of storage.
All of that for a nominal fee of $6799.
Obviously, that’s an exorbitant amount of money to spend on a computer. That level of Mac Mini is not meant for you and I. But take it as a sign of where we’re headed.
These machines are meant to do the extraordinary: running open weight models. An open weight model, to put it simply, is a fully-trained AI model that you can run locally on a computer. Think of it like this: instead of prompting an AI agent like ChatGPT or Claude through their interface over the internet, you have an interface on your machine that talks to a model that is also on your machine. Safe from the internet (if you wish), completely private to you. This is the future of AI.
Apple is placing their bets on open weight models. Although the cost for entry is high now, it will drop. If Moore’s Law holds true, we will start to see more powerful chips become accessible, at which that point I’m sure Apple Intelligence will be reskinned as a powerful, open weight model running locally on your Mac. Think copilot, but way better, more private, and it actually works for you instead of the other way around.
Insert Microsoft being hot garbage joke here.
A True, Private Personal Assistant
I think that Apple has it right. One of the biggest arguments about the AI giants is the fact that there is little to no privacy. They are absolutely using your data to continuously train their models. By moving to open weight, we are giving consumers more privacy and more power without a subscription. I’m not sure how our capitalist overlords are going to respond, as this will hurt their bottom line someday, “but that day is not this day” (IYKYK)
I’m choosing to have hope and look at the glass half full. There is a lot of power to be had by using AI tools, and I truly believe Apple is on the forefront of something special.
Stay Creative, Stay Caffeinated.
Paps.