Local-first AI is where the smart money is starting to lean. Conway Research, eight months old, pulled backing from an Anthropic-affiliated investment group, a16z and angels out of Google, OpenAI and

What happened: Conway Research, an AI startup founded in February, unveiled its first personal AI assistant Underdog and announced funding from an Anthropic-led investment group, a16z, and individual investors from Google, OpenAI, and Hugging Face. Key numbers: Founded 8 months ago; Why it matters: The investor lineup includes a16z, Anthropic's Anthology group, Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, and OpenAI researcher Noam Brown. The content frames Underdog as a local, offline alternative to cloud-based agents like Meta's Muse, while noting its performance does not exceed Muse or Dot.

Conway Research, an AI startup founded in February, unveiled its first personal AI assistant Underdog and announced funding from an Anthropic-led investment group, a16z, and individual investors from Google, OpenAI, and Hugging Face.

The investor lineup includes a16z, Anthropic's Anthology group, Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, and OpenAI researcher Noam Brown. The content frames Underdog as a local, offline alternative to cloud-based agents like Meta's Muse, while noting its performance does not exceed Muse or Dot.