Project summary

I'm sure this is where I am supposed to provide some impressive-sounding pitch with all the fashionable catchphrases and industry lingo. Instead, it's just me, some local AI models, intellectual curiosity, and a ton of questions.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

The project's goal is simply to conduct independent research on open-weight, local AI models and see what happens. That's it. As an independent researcher, I am not institutionally bound to a particular set of preconceived notions, assumptions, economic incentives, single-domain expertise, the pressure to make the research easily digestible during the peer-review process, or academic reputation. I'm 51 years old. I served for 10 years in the United States Air Force as a Cryptologic Linguist assigned to the National Security Agency. Those 10 years helped shape the methodology I use in all my personal research projects.

How will this funding be used?

In order to conduct research into open-weight models locally, I require a dedicated workstation. The funding will be used to purchase a DGX Spark.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

The team is just me and my curiosity. I’ve conducted a few research projects in the past simply for personal satisfaction. These include studying KV Index value effects on tornado genesis, to which I subsequently added a geologic-composition component after noticing an unexpected small trend; comparing commonly held American football beliefs with what the underlying advanced statistics show using symbolic regression analysis; and my current analysis of the 2024–2026 American political system using semantic, judicial, financial, legislative, and executive document analysis within a custom framework.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

If my research fails to produce meaningful results, I will still publish. The project could still fail spectacularly because the initial approaches I take are fundamentally flawed. That's where discipline and not being married to a theory come into play. You simply accept the failure, adapt, and keep researching.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

Zero. This is my first attempt at applying for outside research funding.