Underdog Gets Backing for AI That Stays on Your Device

The AI industry keeps asking for more of your life. Underdog's pitch is to keep that life on your own device.

Andreessen Horowitz says it is leading the first funding round for Conway Research, the company behind Sigil Wen's personal AI assistant. The announcement does not disclose the amount or valuation.

The bet is that useful personal intelligence can run on hardware people already own, with data under their control. That is an attractive promise. It is also something a product has to demonstrate, not something an investor cheque proves.

For once, the ambitious part of an AI launch is asking for less cloud.