Oh yeah, local is a different story. I’d probably look into something like what you mentioned if I had the hardware, but atm I’m more interested in finding 1-1 alternatives to these tech behemoths, ones that anyone can use with the same level of convenience.

Le Chat by Mistral is a France-based (and EU abiding) alternative to ChatGPT. Works fine for me so far.

Yup, and always will be, because the antiwoke worldview is so delusional that it calls empirical reality “woke”. Thus, an AI that responds truthfully will always be woke.