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Most of us are used to using internet chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek in one of two ways: via a web browser or via their dedicated smartphone apps. There are two drawbacks to this. First, their use requires an internet connection. Second, everything you type into the chatbot is sent to the companies servers, where it is analyzed and retained. In other words: the more you use the chatbot the more the company knows about you. This is a particular worry surrounding DeepSeek that American lawmakers have expressed. But thanks to a few innovative and easy-to-use desktop apps, LM Studio and GPT4All, you can bypass both these drawbacks. With the apps, you can run various LLM models on your computer directly. Ive spent the last week playing around with these apps and thanks to each, I can now use DeepSeek without the privacy concerns. Heres how you can, too. Run DeepSeek locally on your computer without an internet connection To get started, simply download LM Studio or GPT4All on your Mac, Windows PC, or Linux machine. Once the app is installed, youll download the LLM of your choice into it from an in-app menu. I chose to run DeepSeeks R1 model, but the apps support myriad open-source LLMs. LM Studio can run DeepSeeks reasoning model privately on your computer. Once youve done the above youve essentially turned your personal computer into an AI server capable of running numerous open-source LLMs, including ones from DeepSeek and Meta. Next, simply open a new chat window and type away just as you would when using an AI chatbot on the web. The best thing about both these apps is that they are free for general consumer use, you can run several open-source LLMs in them (you get to choose which and can swap between LLMs at will), and, if you already know how to use an AI chatbot in a web browser, youll know how to use the chatbot in these apps. But there are additional benefits to running LLMs locally on your computer, too. The benefits of using an LLM locally Ive been running DeepSeeks reasoning model on my MacBook for the past week without so much as a hiccup in both LM Studio or GPT4All. One of the coolest things about interacting with DeepSeek in this way is that no internet is required. Since the LLM is hosted directly on your computer, you dont need any kind of data connection to the outside world to use it. Running LLMs like DeepSeek in apps like GPT4All can help keep your data secure. Or as GPT4Alls lead developer, Adam Treat, puts it, You can use it on an airplane or at the top of Mount Everest. This is a major boon to business travelers stuck on long flights and those working in remote, rural areas. But if Treat had to sum up the biggest benefit of running DeepSeek locally on your computer, he would do it in one word: Privacy. Every online LLM is hosted by a company that has access to whatever you input into the LLM. For personal, legal, and regulatory reasons this can be less than optimal or simply not possible, Treat explains. While for individuals, this can present privacy risks, those who upload business or legal documents into an LLM to summarize could be putting their company and its data in jeopardy. Uploading that [kind of data] to an online server risks your data in a way that using it with an offline LLM will not, Treat notes. The reason an offline LLM running locally on your own computer doesnt put your data at risk is because Your data simply never leaves your machine, says Treat. This means, for example, if you want to use DeepSeek to help you summarize that report you wrote, you can upload it into the DeepSeek model stored locally on your computer via GPT4All or LM Studio and rest assured the information in that report isnt being sent to the LLM maker’s servers. The drawbacks of using an LLM locally However, there are drawbacks to running an LLM locally. The first is that youre limited to using only the open-source models that are available, which may be less recent than the model that is available through the chatbots official website. And because only open-source models can be installed, that means you cant use apps like GPT4All or LM Studio to run OpenAIs ChatGPT locally on your computer. Another disadvantage is speed. Because you are using your own hardware (your laptop or desktop) to power the AI, the speed of responses will be generally slower than an online server, Treat says. And since AI models rely heavily on RAM to perform their computations, the amount of RAM you have in your computer can limit which models you can install in apps like GPT4All and LM Studio. As online servers are usually powered by very high-end hardware they are generally going to be faster and have more memory allowing for very fast responses by very large models, explains Treat. Still, in my testing of both LM Studio and GPT4All over the past week, I dont think the reduced speediness of DeepSeeks replies is a dealbreaker. When using DeepSeeks R1 reasoning model on the web, the DeepSeek hosted on servers in China took 32 seconds to return an answer to the prompt Can you teach me how to make a birthday cake? When asking the local DeepSeek R1 model stored in LM Studio and GPT4All, the response time was 84 seconds and 82 seconds, respectively. Ive found that the benefits of running DeepSeek locally on my device using LM Studio and GPT4All far outweigh the extra waiting time required to get a response. Without a doubt, being able to access a powerful AI odel like DeepSeeks R1 locally on my computer anywhere at any time without an internet connectionand knowing the data I enter into it remains privateis a trade-off worth making.
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E-Commerce
Healthy coastal ecosystems play crucial roles in the U.S. economy, from supporting multibillion-dollar fisheries and tourism industries to protecting coastlines from storms. Theyre also difficult to manage, requiring specialized knowledge and technology. Thats why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationthe federal agency best known for collecting and analyzing the data that make weather forecasts and warnings possibleleads most of the governments work on ocean and coastal health, as well as research into the growing risks posed by climate change. The government estimates that NOAAs projects and services support more than one-third of the nations gross domestic product. Yet, this is one of the agencies that the Trump administration has targeted, with discussions of trying to privatize NOAAs forecasting operations and disband its crucial climate change research. As a marine environmental historian who studies relationships among scientists, fishermen, and environmentalists, I have seen how NOAAs work affects American livelihoods, coastal health, and the U.S. economy. Here are a few examples from just NOAAs coastal work, and what it means to fishing industries and coastal states. Preventing fisheries from collapsing One of the oldest divisions within NOAA is the National Marine Fisheries Service, known as NOAA Fisheries. It dates to 1871, when Congress created the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. At that time, the first generation of conservationists started to worry that Americas natural resources were finite. By conducting surveys and interviewing fishermen and seafood dealers, the fish commissioners discovered that freshwater and saltwater fisheries across the country were declining. Oil spills and raw sewage were polluting waterways. Fishermen were using high-tech gear, such as pound nets, to catch more and more of the most valuable fish. In some areas, overfishing was putting the future of the fisheries in jeopardy. One solution was to promote aquaculture, also known as fish or shellfish farming. Scientists and entrepreneurs reared baby fish in hatcheries and transferred them to rivers, lakes, or bays. The Fish Commission even used refrigerated railroad cars to ship fish eggs across the country. Today, U.S. aquaculture is a US$1.5 billion industry and the worlds fastest-growing food sector. Much of the salmon you see in grocery stores started as farm-raised hatchlings. NOAA provides training, grants, and regional data to support the industry. NOAA Fisheries also helps to regulate commercial and recreational fishing to keep fish populations healthy and prevent them from crashing. The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other laws implemented catch limits to prevent overfishing. To develop fair regulations and combat illegal practices, NOAA and its predecessors have worked with fishing organizations through regional fishery management councils for decades. These industries generate $321 billion in sales and support 2.3 million jobs. Restoring coral reefs to help marine life thrive NOAA also benefits U.S. coastal communities by restoring coral reefs. Corals build up reefs over centuries, creating cities of the sea. When theyre healthy, they provide nurseries that protect valuable fish species, like snapper, from predators. Reefs also attract tourism and protect coastlines by breaking up waves that cause storm-driven flooding and erosion. The corals of Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico, and other tropical areas provide over $3 billion a year in benefits from sustaining marine ecosystems to recreation, including sport fishing. However, reefs are vulnerable to pollution, acidification, heat stress, and other damage. Warming water can cause coral bleaching events, as the world saw in 2023 and 2024. NOAA monitors reef health. It aso works with innovative restoration strategies, such as breeding strains of coral that resist bleaching, so reefs have a better chance of surviving as the planet warms. Battling invasive species in the Great Lakes A third important aspect of NOAAs coastal work involves controlling invasive species in Americas waters, including those that have menaced the Great Lakes. Zebra and quagga mussels, spiny water flea, and dozens of other Eurasian organisms colonized the Great Lakes starting in the late 1900s after arriving in ballast water from transoceanic ships. These invaders have disrupted the Great Lakes food web and clogged cities water intake systems, causing at least $138 million in damage per year. In the Northwest Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, invasive lionfish, native to Asia and Australia, have spread, preying on native fish essential to coral reefs. Lionfish have become one of the worlds most damaging marine fish invasions. NOAA works with the Coast Guard, U.S. Geological Survey, and other organizations to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species. Stronger ballast water regulations developed through the agencys research have helped prevent new invasions in the Great Lakes. Understanding climate change One of NOAAs most crucial roles is its leadership in global research into understanding the causes and effects of climate change. The oil industry has known for decades that greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels would raise global temperatures. Evidence and research from around the world have connected greenhouse gas emissions from human activities to climate change. The data have shown how rising temperatures have increased risks for coastal areas, including worsening heat waves and ocean acidification that harm marine life; raising sea levels, which threaten coastal communities with tidal flooding and higher storm surges; and contributing to more extreme storms. NOAA conducts U.S. climate research and coordinates international climate research efforts, as well as producing the data and analysis for weather forecasting that coastal states rely on. Why tear apart an irreplaceable resource? When Republican President Richard Nixon proposed consolidating several different agencies into NOAA in 1970, he told Congress that doing so would promote better protection of life and property from natural hazards, better understanding of the total environment, and exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources. The Trump administration is instead discussing tearing down NOAA. The administration has been erasing mentions of climate change from government research, websites, and policiesdespite the rising risks to communities across the nation. The next federal budget is likely to slash NOAAs funding. Commercial meteorologists argue that much of NOAAs weather data and forecasting, also crucial to coastal areas, couldnt be duplicated by the private sector. As NOAA marks its 55th year, I believe its in the nations and the U.S. economys best interest to strengthen rather than dismantle this vital agency. Christine Keiner is a chair at the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Rochester Institute of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
About 19 million children under 5 around the world suffer from severe acute malnutrition every year. This life-threatening condition kills 400,000 of themthats one child every 10 seconds. These numbers are staggering, especially because a lifesaving treatment has existed for nearly three decades: ready-to-use therapeutic food. Nutriset, a French company, was founded by Michel Lescanne. He was one of two scientists who invented this product in 1996. A sticky peanut butter paste branded Plumpy’nut, its enriched with vitamins and minerals and comes in packets that require no refrigeration or preparation. Healthcare professionals were quickly convinced of its promise. What was harder to figure out was how to manufacture as many packets as possible while cutting costs. In 2008, ready-to-use therapeutic food producers like Nutriset charged $60 for a box of 150 packetsthe number needed to treat one severely malnourished child for the six to eight weeks needed for their recovery. In a study we published in the Journal of Management Studies in October 2024, we explained how the international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, activists, and for-profit companies involved in the products distribution managed to resolve a public controversy over the use of Nutrisets patent and its for-profit business model. Contrary to the expectations of activists and many humanitarian NGOs, this for-profit company managed to reduce its prices down to $39 per box of Plumpy’nut packets by 2019 and keep them consistently lower than any nonprofit or for-profit competitors could, all the while enforcing its patent rights. We interviewed Jan Komrska, a pharmacist then serving as the ready-to-use therapeutic food procurement manager at UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children; Tiddo von Schoen-Angerer, a pediatrician who was leading the access to medicines campaign at Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity; and Thomas Couaillet, a Nutriset executive. We also studied documents issued over the course of a decade to find out why this companys unusual approach to intellectual property protection was so successful. Helping franchisees in low-income countries get started Nutriset and humanitarian organizations disagreed at the start over how to proceed with the production of ready-to-use therapeutic food. Doctors Without Borders at first accused Nutriset of behaving like a big drugmaker, shielding itself from competition by aggressively enforcing its patents to charge excessively high prices. The nongovernmental organization demanded that Nutriset allow any manufacturer to make its patented packets, without any compensation for that intellectual property. By 2012, Nutriset had changed course. It had stopped being almost the sole producer of ready-to-use therapeutic food and instead allowed licensees and franchisee partners, chiefly located in low-income countries, to make the packets without having to pay any royalties. It did, however, make an exception for the United States. It allowed Edesia, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit, to become a Nutriset franchisee. It also provided these smaller producers with seed funding and technical advice. Nutriset is still the worlds largest ready-to-use therapeutic food producer, we have determined through our research. Its responsible for about 30% to 40% of the worlds annual production, down from more than 90% in 2008. There are some other U.S. manufacturers, such as Tabatchnick Fine Foods, but they arent Nutriset partners. Threatening legal action At the same time, the company continued to threaten to take legal action against potential rivals located in developed countries that were replicating their recipe without authorization. Usually, cease-and-desist letters were sufficient. Nutriset implemented this strategy to ward off competition from big multinational corporations that might try to establish their brands in new markets, gaining a foothold before flooding them with imported ultraprocessed food. A big risk, had that occurred, would have been less breastfeeding for newborns and the disruption of local diets. Nutrisets strategy of opening access to its patent selectively has enabled UNICEF to double the share of packets it buys from producers located in the Global South. UNICEF, the worlds biggest buyer of ready-to-use therapeutic food, bought less than one-third of its supplies from those nations in 2011. That share climbed to two-thirds in 2022. Nutrisets reliance on local franchisees has helped create over 1,000 jobs in hunger-stricken regions while strengthening the supply chain and reducing the carbon emissions of transportation, according to UNICEF. Nutrisets creative patent strategy also helped its partner producers in low-income countries, which include nonprofit and for-profit ventures, compete with large corporations in developed countries by the time its patent expired in 2018. In this instance, a for-profit company not only managed to keep its prices lower than its competitors, including nonprofits, but used its patent to support economic development in developing countries by shielding startup producers from international competition. As a result of these successes, we found that nongovernmental organizations eventually stopped criticizing the French company and recognized that high prices were actually not due to Nutrisets patent policy but rather to global prices of the packets ingredients. In recognition of its contributions and innovation, Nutriset won the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices Patents for Humanity Award in 2015. Offering a cheap, convenient, and effective treatment One of the biggest advantages of ready-to-use therapeutic food is that parents or other caregivers can give it to their kids at home or on the go. Thats more convenient and cheaper than the alternative: several months of hospitalization where children receive a nutrient-dense liquid called therapeutic milk. The at-home treatment works most of the time. More than 80% of the children who get three daily food packets recover within two months. Severe acute malnutrition deaths remain high because historically only 25% to 50% of children suffering from it get treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food, due to insufficient funding. The treatment programs are run by governments, UNICEF and other international agencies, and NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders. USAIDs funding role The U.S. government spent about $200 million in 2024 through the U.S. Agency for International Development on ready-to-use therapeutic food, enough packets to treat 3.9 million children. Thats nearly as much as UNICEF, which treats about 5 million children annually. Its unclear whether the Trump administration, which is trying to dismantle USAID, will discontinue its funding of ready-to-use therapeutic food that the U.S. government has purchased exclusively from U.S. manufacturers with U.S.-sourced ingredients. At a time when the flow of development aid from several wealthy countries is declining, the precedent Nutriset set suggests that humanitarian organizations, by teaming up with international agencies, governments, and for-profit companies, can help drive down the costs of saving lives threatened by hunger while increasing the nutritional autonomy of the Global South. But the funding for ready-to-use therapeutic food and its distribution has to come from somewhere, whether it is from governments, foundations or other donors. Nicolas Dahan is a professor of management at Seton Hall University. Bernard Leca is a professor of management sciences at ESSEC. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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