My recommendation would be to install https://ollama.com/ on your desktop. This allows you to download a wide range of models that work with your PC hardware. Interactions with local models aren't shared with anyone else, and it doesn't require an internet connection to work. Once that's set up, you can use https://openwebui.com/. This provides a ChatGPT-style chat experience and can be configured to use your locally installed Ollama models. It's open source and doesn't need internet to function. You can upload documents and ask the models to respond based on the content. If you want to automate local AI interactions, I would recommend installing https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/. With the above, you'll have everything running locally.

I feel like raising the entry-level price will keep a lot of people out. AI services really need tons of users to get better. It’d be great to see more pricing options between $20 and $200.