Thiel Fellow launches Underdog, a fully on-device private AI assistant

Conway Research launched an invite-only beta of Underdog, an AI assistant that runs entirely on-device on Macs and Windows PCs, with Linux, iPhone and Android versions planned. It uses a 27B-parameter reasoning model fine-tuned from Qwen3.8 27B and is free with no ads, monetizing via a small cut of Stripe payment transactions. Backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, the Anthology Fund and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison.

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Thiel Fellow launches Underdog, a fully on-device private AI assistant

27B-parameter model runs locally on Mac and Windows; Linux, iPhone and Android coming soon
Free and never ad-supported, earning a small cut of Stripe payment transactions
Investors include a16z, Khosla Ventures, Hummingbird, SV Angel and the Anthology Fund
Founded by 19-year-old Thiel Fellow Sigil Wen, who previously worked on Airchat

#Underdog#ConwayResearch#Stripe#Qwen

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