Why Whisper Isn’t Free — Building Privacy-First AI Without Selling You

There’s a question we get asked a lot:

Why does Whisper cost money?

Because “free” AI usually isn’t free at all.
You just pay with your data, your behaviour, or your attention instead.

Whisper is built differently.
It runs entirely on your device — no servers, no tracking, no data harvesting.
That only works if the user is the customer, not the product.

In this video, I walk through:

• Why we made the decision to charge for Whisper

• What “free” actually means in the AI economy

• How pricing, privacy, and incentives are linked

• A walkthrough of the new Whisper website

• What’s coming next: optional internet access, local notifications, news feeds

• Why we’re planning to open-source parts of the stack

This isn’t about growth at any cost.
It’s about building AI that respects autonomy and doesn’t require blind trust.

If you care about privacy, ownership, and where AI is heading, this one’s worth your time.

#ai #privacy #ondeviceai #whisper #sovereignai #techethics

●▬▬▬▬ LINKS ▬▬▬▬●

🤖 Whisper (Private, On-Device AI) – https://usewhisper.ai

🛠️ Nano Collective (Open-Source Sovereign AI) – https://nanocollective.org

🌐 Ava Technologies (Enterprise) – https://avatechnologies.org

🧠 Substack - https://substack.com/@followbenparry

🆇 X –   / followbenparry  

●▬▬▬▬ ABOUT THIS CHANNEL ▬▬▬▬▬●

On this channel, I explore AI, technology, and the ideas shaping our digital future.
We're building Whisper — a fully private, on-device AI — and Nano Collective, our open-source community focused on decentralised, privacy-preserving intelligence.

Sometimes I talk about Bitcoin, decentralisation, and what sovereignty really means in the age of AI.

If you care about intelligence that works for you, not against you, you’ll find a lot here.

●▬▬▬▬ DISCLAIMER ▬▬▬▬▬●

NOT FINANCIAL, LEGAL, OR TAX ADVICE.
This channel is for entertainment and education.
These are my own opinions — not professional guidance.