Underdog demos 31.7MB Woof speech model in browser game

The game places users in a room with a typewriter, CRT monitor and desk lamp that makes a sound when its switch is clicked. Its introduction warns about “intrusive” cloud providers, an apparent jab at cloud-based AI. Underdog said all the voices in the game use Woof, which has 31 million parameters and is available for anyone to download.

A small model is unlikely to replace larger systems, but it could support local assistants or personalized podcasts, the article said. Woof follows Underdog’s Bark, a 167 MB speech-to-text model released weeks earlier for edge-device transcription and dictation.

Underdog founder Sigil Wen told TechCrunch he began building an app because he wanted an alternative to notetakers such as Granola: a system using AI models on users’ devices and allowing them to retain control of their data. “I think we will be able to run most capable models of today on the devices you already own within months,” he said, describing his aim to train open, capable, American-made models that support private AI.

The company has also released a 27-billion-parameter model that can run on laptops. It is positioning a separate, waitlisted app as a locally hosted alternative to Muse and Instinct.