AI companies around the world are racing to create bigger and better models, but the problem is that they all require a lot of processing power. Meanwhile, some researchers and startups are creating small-scale models that can run on edge devices such as mobile phones and computers.
One such startup, Underdog, released a game built on a new audio model called Woof that weighs just 32MB.
The game features retro technology-themed rooms, typewriters, and CRT monitors. There is a desk lamp, and when you press the switch, it makes a sound. The intro warns users about “intrusive” cloud providers across the city. Ostensibly an attack on cloud-based models.
Can operate a typewriter and music tuner.
You can type anything into the typewriter using the keyboard and the game will read it out loud. You can also rotate the tuner to generate different types of music.
All of this works within the browser through Underdog’s voice generation model, which the company says can run on most devices without an internet connection. This model has 31 million parameters and is available for anyone to download.
These smaller models probably won’t replace the larger ones, but they could be enough to power local assistant experiences or create personalized podcasts.
This demo comes a few weeks after Underdog announced Bark. Bark is a 167 MB speech-to-text model designed to run on edge devices for transcription and dictation.
Sigil Wen, founder of Underdog, told TechCrunch that he started building the app because instead of using a note taker like Granola, he wanted to build his own system with an AI model that could run on users’ devices and allow users to own their data.
“In the coming months, I think you’ll be able to run today’s most capable models on the devices you already own. We just want to train the best open models that are American-made, open, capable, and enable people to have private AI,” he said, referring to the manifesto.
In addition to the two voice models mentioned above, Underdog has also released a 27 billion parameter model that can run on a laptop and a waitlisted app that the company is positioning as a locally hosted alternative to Muse and Instinct.
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