01
Ask
Who you are, what the AI is for, and what must never leave your computer.
HT Sherpa · htsherpa.com
I’ll put a private AI on your computer in one sitting — or you don’t pay.
ChatGPT is someone else’s computer. If you handle patient notes, student work, or client files, that’s the wrong computer. We install an open-source model on yours, lock it offline, and leave a guide that stays. You keep the keys.
We help you choose — and switch — to the latest open-source model that fits your work. See the Field Guide.
$498 once — our cost plus 20%. If a model is not answering on your computer in 14 days, you pay nothing.
The grand slam
Everything you need to own the AI. One price. One guarantee.
You walk away with
- Written plan for your machine and job$500
- Install on your computer (runtime + model)$2,000
- Offline lock + local guide that stays$800
- Mac / Windows step-by-step + security pack$400
- First training run on your own examples$400
- 90 days of route updates and questions$600
If you bought the pieces
$4,700
You pay today
$498
If a model is not answering on your computer in 14 days, you pay nothing.
Yes — install it for $498How it works
Eight questions. A plan you can read. Then we climb.
02
Plan
A written setup: computer, model, and security — before anything is installed.
03
Approve
You say yes. We do not install a setup you have not read.
04
Install
The model lands on your machine. Offline. A local guide takes over.
05
Teach
Show it your voice or your files — on disk. The model is not the official record.
06
Sign off
A written record you can file. Not a certificate. You sign it.
Pick your route
Same rules. Different first step.
A dentist and a CFO should not get the same plan. Use the arrows, or click a card — each role has ten uses and what must stay off the model.
Field Guide · Week of 17 August 2026
This week’s top nine that actually fit a computer.
We re-rank every Monday from Hugging Face — by country, and by whether it runs on your machine or needs a private server. Not a store. A field guide.
- 1
Gemma 4 12B
The honest everyday model for a 16 GB laptop. Clear writing, Apache license, no account required after download.
- 2
Qwen 3.6 27B
The best open writer you can still keep on one machine. Multilingual. Apache. The download numbers this week are enormous.
- 3
gpt-oss 20B
OpenAI’s first open weights since GPT-2. Built to run in 16 GB. Apache license. Very widely downloaded.
FAQ
Downloading a model is not the work.
We know your profile. We point you at the newest model that fits this machine. Then we stay for the workflows — that is the Sherpa.
- Is it actually private?
- Yes, by design. After the first download, the model runs on your computer. What you type is not sent to us, or to OpenAI, or to Anthropic. There is no server in the middle that could read it.
- Is this just another download button?
- No. Downloading a model is the first mile. The work is knowing which model fits you this month, how to point it at your job, and how to build the workflows after it is on the disk. That is the Sherpa. A dashboard that only fetches weights leaves you at the trailhead.
- How do you pick the newest models?
- Every Monday we re-read Hugging Face and re-rank the top nine in each list — by country, and by whether it runs on your computer or needs a private server. The Field Guide is that list, in ordinary language. Then we match one to your machine. A dentist on 16 GB does not get the same checkpoint as a CFO on a private GPU box.
- What happens after it is installed?
- We stay for the part most installers skip: how you use it. Letters, lesson plans, board notes, a local file vault, a first training run on examples you choose. The local guide remains on the machine after we leave. You own the summit.
- Why isn’t this free?
- The model is open source. The walk is the work. We charge our cost plus 20%. That 20% pays the people who accompany you. We do not take more. Gifts and sponsored seats go to the Summit Fund, a 501(c)(3) in formation — not tax-deductible until it can issue a receipt.
Summit Fund
Cost plus 20%. The rest opens a seat.
Useful AI should not depend on the country you live in, or on a monthly fee to someone else’s computer. We charge what it costs us, plus 20% to pay the people who walk with you. Gifts and sponsored seats go to the Summit Fund (a 501(c)(3) in formation) — for students and for people in low- and middle-income countries who ask for an install. Gifts are not tax-deductible until the Fund can issue a receipt.
If the work can’t leave the room, the model shouldn’t either.
Yes — put a private AI on my computer$498 · Apple Pay or card · If a model is not answering on your computer in 14 days, you pay nothing.