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Lightning Talk Intermediate Dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0

Tiles: Own your AI with local models and open protocols

Approved
Session Description

As AI becomes central to how we work and communicate, I believe we’re seeing a new form of technological feudalism, where a handful of platforms control the models, identities, data, and distribution channels people depend on. Local-first AI offers an alternative, but many tools still lack the identity, sync, and collaboration features people expect.


In this talk, I’ll share what I’ve learned building Tiles, a local-first private AI assistant. I’ll discuss the tradeoffs I’ve encountered while combining local models with decentralized identity, peer-to-peer encrypted sync, and AT Protocol based collaboration. I’ll also cover exploratory research we’re conducting to bring the convenience of modern AI services to a user-owned stack.

Key Takeaways


References

Session Categories

Introducing a FOSS project or a new version of a popular project
Talk License: Dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0

Speakers

Ankesh Bharti Founder | Tiles Privacy

I'm Ankesh Bharti, a technologist based in Jamshedpur, India. I'm the founder of Tiles Privacy and co-founder of the User & Agents community. My work explores how decentralized infrastructure can give people more agency, control, and choice in their digital lives. Outside of work, I’m interested in bikes, hard sci-fi, and cybernetics.

Ankesh Bharti
https://bsky.app/profile/ankeshbharti.com

Reviews

Reviewer #1 Approved

None
Reviewer #2 Approved