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Survival LLM: AI assistant and emergency library that runs on your own computer

brangus.io145 points89 comments
Screenshot of Survival LLM: AI assistant and emergency library that runs on your own computer

Survival LLM is a free, open-source AI assistant and reference library designed to remain usable when the internet is unavailable. It runs on a Mac or Windows computer, keeps questions and personal files on that device, and cites the material behind each answer, with links that highlight the relevant passage. Its offline library includes emergency and medical guidance from sources such as FEMA’s Ready.gov, the CDC, MedlinePlus, and WikEM, along with survival manuals, repair and how-to guides, and roughly 930,000 Wikipedia articles. Users can also add PDFs, documents, ebooks, and notes for the assistant to search, such as a generator manual or family emergency plan.

The app selects an AI model based on the computer’s memory; larger models require more storage but performed better in a blind test of 22 blackout and first-aid questions. The tested models scored from 14 to 21 answers judged to capture official guidance correctly, and the creators caution that AI can still be wrong, especially on smaller models - so checking the cited references matters. Setup requires an internet connection to download the model and library, then the software works offline. The full library download is 9 GB, or 1.3 GB without Wikipedia and iFixit; installation takes about 20 minutes to 2½ hours, mostly downloading. Supported systems are Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 14 or later and 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.

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