106 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
106 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: Homebrew Computer Company
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description: We are Homebrew Computer Company, the creators and maintainers of Jan, Cortex and other tools.
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keywords:
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[
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Homebrew Computer Company,
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Jan,
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local AI,
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open-source alternative to chatgpt,
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alternative to openai platform,
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privacy focus,
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free and open source,
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private and offline,
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conversational AI,
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no-subscription fee,
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large language models,
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about Jan,
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desktop application,
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thinking machines,
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]
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---
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import { Callout } from 'nextra/components'
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# Homebrew Computer Company
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_[Eniac](https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/78), the World's First Computer (Photo courtesy of US Army)_
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## About
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We're a team of AI researchers and engineers. We are the creators and lead maintainers of a few open-source AI tools:
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- 👋 [Jan](https://jan.ai): ChatGPT-alternative that runs 100% offline
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- 🤖 [Cortex](https://cortex.so/docs/): A simple, embeddable library to run LLMs locally
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- More to come!
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<Callout>
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The [Homebrew Computer Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club) was an early computer hobbyist group from 1975 to 1986 that led to Apple and the personal computer revolution.
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</Callout>
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### Mission
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We're a robotics company that focuses on the cognitive framework for future robots. Our long-term mission is to advance human-machine collaboration to enable human civilization to thrive.
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### Business Model
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We're currently a bootstrapped startup [^2]. We balance technical invention with the search for a sustainable business model (e.g., consulting, paid support, and custom development).
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<Callout>
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We welcome business inquiries: 👋 hello@jan.ai
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</Callout>
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### Community
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We have a thriving community built around [Jan](../docs), where we also discuss our other projects.
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- [Discord](https://discord.gg/AAGQNpJQtH)
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- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jandotai)
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- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/homebrewltd)
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- [HuggingFace](https://huggingface.co/janhq)
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- Email: hello@jan.ai
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## Philosophy
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Homebrew is an opinionated company with a clear philosophy for the products we build:
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### 🔑 User Owned
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We build tools that are user-owned. Our products are [open-source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source), designed to run offline or be [self-hosted](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/). We make no attempt to lock you in, and our tools are free of [user-hostile dark patterns](https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1761467904737067456?t=yGoUuKC9LsNGJxSAKv3Ubg) [^1].
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We adopt [Local-first](https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/) principles and store data locally in [universal file formats](https://stephango.com/file-over-app). We build for privacy by default, and we do not [collect or sell your data](/privacy).
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### 🔧 Right to Tinker
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We believe in the [Right to Repair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_repair). We encourage our users to take it further by [tinkering, extending, and customizing](https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a4395/pm-remembers-steve-jobs-how-his-philosophy-changed-technology-6507117/) our products to fit their needs.
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Our products are designed with [Extension APIs](/docs/extensions), and we do our best to write good [documentation](/docs) so users understand how things work under the hood.
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### 👫 Build with the Community
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We are part of a larger open-source community and are committed to being a good jigsaw puzzle piece. We credit and actively contribute to upstream projects.
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We adopt a public-by-default approach to [Project Management](https://github.com/orgs/menloresearch/projects/5), [Roadmaps](https://github.com/orgs/menloresearch/projects/5/views/31), and Helpdesk for our products.
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## Inspirations
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> Good artists borrow, great artists steal - Picasso
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We are inspired by and actively try to emulate the paths of companies we admire ❤️:
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- [Posthog](https://posthog.com/handbook)
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- [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/)
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- [Discourse](https://www.discourse.org/about)
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- [Gitlab](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/history/#2017-gitlab-storytime)
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- [Red Hat](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/development-model)
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- [Ghost](https://ghost.org/docs/contributing/)
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- [Lago](https://www.getlago.com/blog/open-source-licensing-and-why-lago-chose-agplv3)
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- [Twenty](https://twenty.com/story)
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## Footnotes
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[^1]: [Kaparthy's Love Letter to Obsidian](https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1761467904737067456?t=yGoUuKC9LsNGJxSAKv3Ubg)
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[^2]: [The Market for AI Companies](https://www.artfintel.com/p/the-market-for-ai-companies) by Finbarr Timbers
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