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Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

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31–40 of 111 posts

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#31
@dang can we modify the title to acknowledge that it's specific to chatbots? The title reads like this is about generic compute, and the content is emphatically not about generic compute.

I realize this is just bad branding by apple but it's still hella confusing.

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#32
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the point here wasn't to be a complete clone of Apple's PCC.

Title says otherwise.

It's not a drop-in replacement; rather it is an implementation of the same ideas (+ some extra ones) but open source so it can be used for things other than Apple devices.

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#34

@dang can we modify the title to acknowledge that it's specific to chatbots? The title reads like this is about generic compute, and the content is emphatically not about generic compute. I realize this is just bad branding by apple but it's still hella confusing.

It does work generically. Like Apple, we initially targeted inference, but it under the hood just an anonymous, attested HTTP server wrapper. The ComputeNode can run an arbitrary workload.

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#36
post #10

Reading the whitepaper, the inference provider still has the ability to access the prompt and response plaintext. This scheme does seem to guarantee that plaintext cannot be read for all other parties (e.g. the API router), and that the client's identity is hidden and cannot be associated with their request. Perhaps the precise privacy guarantees and allowances should be summarized in the readme. With that in mind, d…

We are introducing Verifiably Private AI [1] which actually solves all of the issues you mention. Everything across the entire chain is verifiably private (or in other words, transparent to the user in such a way they can verify what is running across the entire architecture).

[1] https://ai.vp.net/

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#38
post #10

Reading the whitepaper, the inference provider still has the ability to access the prompt and response plaintext. This scheme does seem to guarantee that plaintext cannot be read for all other parties (e.g. the API router), and that the client's identity is hidden and cannot be associated with their request. Perhaps the precise privacy guarantees and allowances should be summarized in the readme. With that in mind, d…

We are introducing Verifiably Private AI [1] which actually solves all of the issues you mention. Everything across the entire chain is verifiably private (or in other words, transparent to the user in such a way they can verify what is running across the entire architecture). [1] https://ai.vp.net/

Whitepaper?

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#39
post #29
post #27

That's nice... in theory. Like it could be cool, and useful... but like what would I actually run on it if I'm not a spammer? Edit : reminds me of federated learning and FlowerLLM (training only AFAIR, not inference), like... yes, nice, I ALWAYS applaud any way to disentangle from proprieaty software and wall gardens... but like what for? What actual usage?

Gimme an actual example instead of downvoting, help me learn. Edit on that too : makes me think of OpenAI Whisper as a service via /e/OS and supposedly anonymous proxying (by mixing), namely running STT remotely. That would be an actual potential usage... but IMHO that's low end enough to be run locally. So I'm still looking for an application here.

Are you looking for a general application of LLMs too large to run locally? Because anything you might use remote inference for, you might want to use privately.

Re: Open Source Implementation of Apple's Private Compute Cloud

#40
post #10

Reading the whitepaper, the inference provider still has the ability to access the prompt and response plaintext. This scheme does seem to guarantee that plaintext cannot be read for all other parties (e.g. the API router), and that the client's identity is hidden and cannot be associated with their request. Perhaps the precise privacy guarantees and allowances should be summarized in the readme. With that in mind, d…

It's probably illegal for a business to take anonymous cryptocurrency payments in the EU. Businesses are allowed to take traceable payments only, or else it's money laundering.

With the caveat that it's not clear what precisely is illegal about these payments and to what level it's illegal. It might be that a business isn't allowed to have any at all, or isn't allowed to use them for business, or can use them for business but can't exchange them for normal currency, or can do all that but has to check their customer's passport and fill out reams of paperwork.

https://bitcoinblog.de/2025/05/05/eu-to-ban-trading-of-priva...

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