Popular AI | Independent local AI & hardware analysis | Substack

AGI is missing two kinds of intelligence

Today’s AGI definitions reward breadth and capability but they leave out two dangerous omissions.

Sep 22 • Ben Geudens

Frontier AI can now reverse-engineer software binaries. Here is what that means in 2026

Frontier AI can now inspect, modify, and sometimes reconstruct binaries without source code. Here is what SRE-Bench and real projects show.

Oct 6 • Popular AI

We are programming minds now: how AI forces us to think about thinking

As AI writes more of our software and developers increasingly define goals, values and truth, philosophy may become the next programming language.

Oct 6 • Ben Geudens

AI glasses can finally see without the cloud. Is local vision worth buying for?

Local AI smart glasses can keep visual inference off vendor clouds, but today’s best private setups still require a phone, SDK, or DIY build.

Oct 4 • Popular AI

Julia 1 is a 144M model that doesn't write anything. That's why it could be useful

Julia 1 is a 144M CPU decision model built for routing, classification, scoring, and yes-or-no gates. Here is where it works and where it fails.

Oct 3 • Popular AI

Latest Articles

Qwen-Image-2.1 ComfyUI editing breaks: fixes for AMD and Mac

Fix Qwen-Image-2.1 ComfyUI editing on AMD and Mac before replacing hardware. Test CPU VAE, DynamicVRAM, and reference-resolution workarounds.

Oct 2 • Popular AI

PewDiePie’s Ajax is an “uncensored” local AI model built for Odysseus

Ajax is PewDiePie’s 9B local AI model for Odysseus. See its release timing, hardware target, refusal ablation, privacy limits, and open questions.

Oct 1 • Popular AI

Google is putting AI hardware in orbit today. What is actually worth computing in space?

Google Project Suncatcher puts TPUs in orbit to test radiation, cooling, and networking. See which orbital AI workloads make practical sense first.

Oct 1 • Popular AI

NVIDIA OpenShell can sandbox Claude Code and Codex. Here’s when to use it

NVIDIA OpenShell isolates Claude Code, Codex, and local AI agents. See what it blocks, how to install it, and when the extra sandbox is worth using.

Sep 30 • Popular AI

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AI news and analysis

Claude Fable 5 data retention may move to your cloud, not vanish

Claude Fable 5 data retention may shift to customer clouds, but Anthropic’s 30-day rule remains. Here’s what enterprise buyers need to check.

Aug 26 • Popular AI

Uber wants a million autonomous drone deliveries a day. Can Zipline solve the backyard problem?

Uber Zipline drone delivery could reshape Uber Eats, but scaling depends on residential drop zones, weather uptime, noise and reliable fallbacks.

Aug 24 • Popular AI

AI wildfire drones are being tested to suppress fires alone

AI wildfire drones can detect, verify, and attack small fires autonomously. XPRIZE’s Alaska trials show the progress and the limits.

Aug 19 • Popular AI

Taiwan’s AI-assisted cyberattack shows why self-hosted agents need harder security boundaries

Learn what Taiwan’s cyberattack means for self-hosted AI agent security, from isolated runtimes and dedicated accounts to restricted network access

Aug 16 • Popular AI

Gemini 3.7 Flash vs 3.6: should coding teams switch?

Compare Gemini 3.7 Flash vs 3.6 on coding scores, token use, pricing, privacy and agent workflows before changing your production routing.

Aug 14 • Popular AI

Explore Local AI

Frontier AI can now reverse-engineer software binaries. Here is what that means in 2026

Frontier AI can now inspect, modify, and sometimes reconstruct binaries without source code. Here is what SRE-Bench and real projects show.

Oct 6 • Popular AI

AI glasses can finally see without the cloud. Is local vision worth buying for?

Local AI smart glasses can keep visual inference off vendor clouds, but today’s best private setups still require a phone, SDK, or DIY build.

Oct 4 • Popular AI

Julia 1 is a 144M model that doesn't write anything. That's why it could be useful

Julia 1 is a 144M CPU decision model built for routing, classification, scoring, and yes-or-no gates. Here is where it works and where it fails.

Oct 3 • Popular AI

Qwen-Image-2.1 ComfyUI editing breaks: fixes for AMD and Mac

Fix Qwen-Image-2.1 ComfyUI editing on AMD and Mac before replacing hardware. Test CPU VAE, DynamicVRAM, and reference-resolution workarounds.

Oct 2 • Popular AI

PewDiePie’s Ajax is an “uncensored” local AI model built for Odysseus

Ajax is PewDiePie’s 9B local AI model for Odysseus. See its release timing, hardware target, refusal ablation, privacy limits, and open questions.

Oct 1 • Popular AI

AI fixes, guides and walkthroughs

Ollama sees your AMD GPU but uses CPU? Fix ROCm 7 first

If Ollama reports zero VRAM on AMD, verify the ROCm 7 driver, GPU permissions, container setup, and Ollama version before buying new hardware.

Aug 20 • Popular AI

OLLAMA_NUM_PARALLEL not working on Mac MLX? Here is why

OLLAMA_NUM_PARALLEL may appear broken on Mac MLX models even when the setting is correct. Learn how to confirm serialization and fix the serving path.

Aug 17 • Popular AI

ChatGPT Health privacy: settings to review before connecting

Learn how ChatGPT Health uses connected records outside Health, why Always ask matters, and what disconnecting does not delete.

Jul 30 • Popular AI

Claude Opus 5 vs Fable 5: Test before you pay double

Choosing Claude Opus 5 vs Fable 5? Compare API cost, long-agent performance, fallbacks, Copilot access, and cost per accepted task.

Jul 28 • Popular AI

AI-generated pull requests are dumping work on maintainers

AI-generated pull requests are flooding review queues. Learn how maintainers can require proof, limit volume, and close weak submissions.

Jul 19 • Popular AI

The best local LLMs for RTX 3090 24GB: the 2026 ranked guide

This RTX 3090 local LLM guide ranks the best 24GB VRAM models for coding agents, chat, reasoning, long context, and daily use.

Jul 13 • Popular AI

Popular AI | Independent local AI & hardware analysis

Popular AI | Independent local AI & hardware analysis

Popular AI provides independent analysis on local AI setups, hardware builds, and unconstrained models. Gain practical AI capability without permission.

Top posts

PewDiePie’s Ajax is an “uncensored” local AI model built for Odysseus

Oct 1 • Popular AI

The ChatGPT sidebar sucks now. Here’s how to fix it.

Jun 3 • Ben Geudens

Mac mini M4 local LLM guide: the best model for every RAM tier

Jul 6 • Popular AI

Best CPU-only local LLMs in 2026: what runs well without a GPU

Jul 5 • Popular AI

The best local LLMs for RTX 3090 24GB: the 2026 ranked guide

Jul 13 • Popular AI

AI builds, hardware and buyer's guides

Qwen3.8-27B requirements: what hardware do you need?

How much VRAM does Qwen3.8-27B need? Compare 16GB, 24GB, 32GB, 48GB, and 72GB GPUs for quantization and local AI agents.

Aug 23 • Popular AI

How much SSD storage do you need for local AI? NVMe vs SATA vs HDD explained

Choose the right local AI storage capacity with practical 1TB to 8TB guidance, plus when NVMe, SATA SSD or HDD makes sense.

Aug 18 • Popular AI

Minisforum N5 Max review: should AI and NAS share one box?

Minisforum N5 Max review: is one 64GB Strix Halo box smart for local AI and NAS duties, or safer as two machines? Here is the tradeoff.

Aug 15 • Popular AI

How to build a 4x RTX 3090 AI server with triple-slot GPUs

Four thick RTX 3090 cards need more than a normal case. Build a reliable open-frame AI server with x16 links, 96GB aggregate VRAM, and safe cooling.

Aug 7 • Popular AI

RTX Spark for local AI: Should buyers wait?

Should you wait for an RTX Spark laptop? Compare its 128GB CUDA promise with the RTX 5090, DGX Spark, and Ryzen AI Max+ 395 alternatives.

Aug 1 • Popular AI

AMD Ryzen AI Halo review: Is it worth $3,999?

AMD Ryzen AI Halo pairs 128GB unified memory with Ryzen AI Max+ 395. See whether its $3,999 price beats Framework, Mac Studio, and DGX Spark.

Jul 18 • Popular AI

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The latest from

Popular AI

Frontier AI can now reverse-engineer software binaries. Here is what that means in 2026

Ben Geudens

We are programming minds now: how AI forces us to think about thinking

AI and information freedom

How LLM bias and AI censorship shape what models say

A practical guide to LLM bias, AI censorship, refusal filters and the case for keeping local and open-weight alternatives available.

Aug 8 • Popular AI

Biased LLMs and the risk to student thinking

AI in education is not a simple cheating story. Biased LLMs can train students to outsource thought unless schools teach judgment.

Jun 28 • Ben Geudens

Should you buy local AI hardware in 2026? The honest answer

Should you buy local AI hardware in 2026 or stick with ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity? Here is the practical buyer’s guide.

May 12 • Popular AI

6:30

The rise of culture-on-demand: reclaiming media from the intellectual property hogs

Open source generative AI is turning culture into something users can generate on demand, putting Hollywood, copyright, and IP business models under new…

Apr 1 • Popular AI and Ben Geudens

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