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How to run DeepSeek and other LLMs locally on your Mac

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Run LLM locally on your Mac
Run DeepSeek or Meta's Llama locally on your Mac!
Graphics: Rajesh Pandey/CultOfMac

ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Apple Intelligence are powerful, but they all share one major drawback — they need constant access to the internet to work. If you value privacy and want better performance, running a large language model like DeepSeek, Google’s Gemma or Meta’s Llama locally on your Mac is a great alternative.

Think it sounds complicated? It’s easier than you think. With the right tools, you can run DeepSeek or any other popular LLM locally on your Mac with minimal effort.

How Apple accidentally made the best AI computer

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2025 Mac Studio
2025 Mac Studio
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple is perceived as a laggard in the AI race — despite that, Apple has developed the single best computer for AI research. The new Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra chip, which supports up to 512GB of unified memory, is the easiest and cheapest way to run powerful, cutting-edge LLMs on your own hardware.

The latest DeepSeek v3 model, which sent shockwaves through the AI space for its comparable performance to ChatGPT, can run entirely on a single Mac, Apple AI researchers revealed Monday.

It’s a machine that fits comfortably on your desk, rather than a server farm; it costs the same as a used Honda Civic, not a new Lamborghini.

How did this happen? Most remarkably of all — by sheer coincidence. Here’s why the Apple silicon architecture makes for the best AI hardware, a use case Apple didn’t mean to design it for.

AI is taking over. Learn to use it to your advantage for just $30.

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Abstract image of AI with a circuit board as the background to illustrate a post about AI classes.
Save 87% on this bundle of 50 generative AI classes.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Artificial intelligence is changing everything, and this affordable bundle of AI classes can help you ride the wave. The 2025 Ultimate GenAI Masterclass Bundle is a massive, 50-course training bundle that gives you lifetime access to expert-led AI training.

It covers everything from ChatGPT, Google Bard and AI-powered coding assistants to tools for generating text, images and videos. Whether you’re a total beginner or a tech pro, these courses will help you master the latest tools and put them to work. And the best part? The AI classes bundle costs just $29.99 (regularly $249) for a limited time.

Price drop: Let AI turn your data into amazing visuals

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An image of a U.S. map on a Mac, created using Columns AI, a tool for using data to create bar charts, line graphs and other visuals.
Get this AI-based presentation tool at a hugely discounted price.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Creating effective bar charts, line graphs and other presentation visuals takes skill — unless you use artificial intelligence to handle the heavy lifting. Columns AI takes your data and automatically generates all the imagery you need to spice up your presentations and reports.

It’s much more accurate and intuitive than something like ChatGPT. And right now, you can secure a lifetime subscription for just $79 (regularly $900).

When it comes to making Siri smarter, the struggle is real

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Image of an iPhone with the words
It's official: The smarter Siri that Apple touted last year is taking longer than expected.
Image: Cult of Mac

Apple confirmed Friday that the smarter Siri promised at WWDC24 isn’t coming together as quickly as anticipated. After touting the minor Siri upgrades that already rolled out, a company statement ended on a depressing note.

“We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps,” said Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy. “It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.”

This confirms multiple previous rumors indicating that users pining for a smarter Siri shouldn’t hold their breath.

Price drop: Generate images, text, logos and more with lifetime access to this AI platform

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AI tools for business: AI MagicX
Fulfill all your AI needs with a single suite of AI tools, for a low one-time payment.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With the wealth of AI tools available, the problem isn’t finding one that will get the job done. The real issue is finding the best fit for your budget. You might be able to find independent AI tools like ChatGPT or Dall-E for generating copy, creating logos, building stories and more, but AI MagicX does it all under one subscription, and you only have to pay for it once. That makes it a perfect suite of AI tools for business.

This robust AI platform includes tools for designing logos, generating art, creating chatbots, writing articles and creating stories. There’s even a document editor. And for a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription on sale for just $65 with code MAGIC35 (regularly $972).

Say goodbye to unreliable AI — generate fact-checked content with ease

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Photo of a woman working on her laptop using Katteb AI writer while she is on the couch.
This reliable AI content generator is on sale at a huge discount for a lifetime plan.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve ever been let down by artificial intelligence providers spitting out half-truths and random guesses, it’s time to upgrade to Katteb. This AI-powered content generator is designed to deliver factually accurate, SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free content across more than 30 content types in more than 110 languages.

With a lifetime subscription to Katteb, you’ll finally have a tool that’s as smart as it claims to be. And it’s on sale now for just $79.99 (regularly $195) as a one-time payment.

Learn about AI and computer programming for only $40

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Sci-fi image of a cyborg hand, used to illustrate a deals post on an educational bundle that teaches you ChatGPT coding and Python programming
This bundle of tech courses can help you launch a lucrative and fulfilling new career.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Ready to take your understanding of coding and artificial intelligence to the next level? This programming bundle for ChatGPT and Python shows you how to pull off coding projects big and small, from “beginner to winner.” And you can get all 14 courses, with a total of 86 hours of courses, for only $39.99 (regularly $154).

You get lifetime access to the lesssons, which are a great way to establish a fundamental understanding of impactful technology.

This startup is building a real-world version of Her’s Samantha by tackling screen addiction

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Photo of woman lying on grass and wearing Natura Umana's HumanPods earbuds.
HumanPods earbuds are just the start of Natura Umana's AI plans.
Photo: Natura Umana

In a world dominated by screens, where the average person spends more than seven hours a day glued to digital devices, the question arises: Is there a better way to integrate technology into our lives? Swiss company Natura Umana believes there is. Taking inspiration from Spike Jonze’s iconic film Her, the company is developing a revolutionary AI ecosystem that replaces screen dependency with natural, voice-first interaction.

At the heart of Natura Umana’s vision are two pioneering products: HumanPods, the first AI earbuds designed for all-day wear, and NatureOS, a software platform that introduces “AI People” — intelligent agents that feel more like companions than tools. Together, these innovations aim to reduce screen addiction, enhance productivity and foster real-world human connections, all while maintaining a steadfast commitment to privacy.

Transcribe, translate and summarize any conversation with this advanced AI voice recorder

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Woman using her phone with the Focais Meet One AI voice recorder attached to it.
This AI-powered voice recorder offers a high-tech solution for capturing, transcribing, translating and summaring long calls, meetings and classes.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The Focais Meet One is an AI-powered device that elevates note-taking and voice recording to a new level. Designed for convenience and accuracy, the AI voice recorder combines voice recognition with advanced AI features to streamline capturing and organizing essential details from conversations.

Its AI transcription feature supports more than 120 languages. This makes it an ideal tool for multilingual environments and anyone dealing with diverse clients or partners. Whether it’s a meeting, lecture or phone call, the Focais Meet One transcribes conversations accurately.

It’s a perfect companion for busy professionals, students or anyone who regularly handles meetings and calls. And for a limited time, this advanced AI voice recorder is on sale for just $99.99.

Get this great PDF editor for half the price of Adobe

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A man using LightPDF PDF editor on an iPad.
LightPDF is a good Adobe Acrobat alternative that costs less than an Adobe subscription.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Looking for an Adobe Acrobat alternative? LightPDF is a great, feature-rich PDF editor that costs less than half of an annual Adobe subscription. And it works on iPhones, Androids and Windows PCs.

LightPDF not only comes with countless PDF-editing features and OCR tech, but it’s also integrated with AI to summarize lengthy text for you. You can grab it for life for only $79.99 (regularly $109.99) while supplies last.

How to use Apple Intelligence Writing Tools

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Apple Intelligence Writing Tools
The writing tools are the most fleshed out Apple Intelligence feature, at least at first.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

One of the top Apple Intelligence features is a new set of system-wide AI writing tools. You can invoke these intelligent writing helpers anytime, anywhere to help you compose, edit, rewrite, summarize, reformat or proofread text.

In my experience, they can really streamline reformatting a document and can be helpful for making your written communication better. Here’s how to make the most of Apple Intelligence writing tools.

Talk to different AI personas with new HumanPods wireless earbuds

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Natura Umana Humanpods
Tap to talk with a variety of "AI people," depending on your needs.
Photo: Natura Umana

New open-ear wireless earbuds called HumanPods unveiled at CES 2025 offer voice access to different artificial intelligence personas with a tap, according to startup Natura Umana.

The new earphones, which also play music, of course, promise to deliver what the company calls “the closest experience to a telepathic connection with your technology” by offering direct access to AI assistance through simple touch controls. The company’s CEO provides a little video demo below (complete with a few bugs).

Let AI write your perfect resume with this $39 job-hunting tool

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Let AI write you the perfect resume with this $39 job-hunting tool.
Use this AI tool to write better resumes and land the job you want.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Job interviews can prove intimidating, but these days, there’s a much more important interview going on behind the scenes. It happens the moment you upload your resume. And because it’s crucial that you pass this “invisible interview,” AI Resume Builder could be the most essential weapon in your job-hunting arsenal.

It could help you land that coveted real job interview that’s key to getting your dream job. Fortunately, this resume-writing tool is now on sale for only $39 (regularly $468). You won’t find a better deal than this anywhere else online.

After Ai Pin flops, Humane wants to put its CosmOS everywhere

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Humane CosmOS software
Humane's new CosmOS works with AI across platforms.
Photo: Humane

After the disappointing launch of its Ai Pin wearable device, San Francisco-based tech company Humane shifts its focus to CosmOS. It’s a new AI-powered operating system that promises to revolutionize how users rely on artificial intelligence to interact with their smart devices, including Apple’s. The Humane AI Pin struggled to deliver on its promises, prompting the company to pivot toward software-driven innovation.

That might remind folks of Steve Jobs’ long-ago move from Apple to NeXT, which ended up dropping hardware entirely and focusing on software.

Humane demonstrated CosmOS running across multiple platforms including car entertainment systems, smart speakers, TVs and smartphones in a new video Wednesday. The system aims to provide functionality similar to AI assistants like Siri, but appears more advanced, enabling complex, context-aware interactions across various devices.

Tim Cook opens up about Apple’s AI strategy and Vision Pro’s future

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Tim Cook on Apple Intelligence
Tim Cook spoke recently at Apple Park during the "It's Glowtime" event.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed details about the company’s approach to artificial intelligence and defended its Vision Pro headset in an extensive interview Wednesday. In a now-familiar refrain, he discussed the company’s strategic entry into generative AI while addressing criticisms about Apple’s seemingly delayed response to the AI boom.

“We never talked about charging for it,” Cook said of Apple Intelligence. “We view it sort of like multitouch, which enabled the smartphone revolution and the modern tablet.”

Turn selfies into glamour shots with this AI headshot generator

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Product photo of the InstaGlam.ai app, an AI headshot generator, on a laptop.
Put your best face forward with this easy-to-use AI headshot generator.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It’s tough to take a professional-looking headshot, whether for a job application or your LinkedIn profile. But an AI headshot generator can definitely make you shine. InstaGlam.ai taps artificial intelligence to create the glamorous headshots you don’t have the time or expertise to produce, and all it needs are a few selfies.

Right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to InstaGlam.ai for just $39.99 (regularly $97).

Google’s Gemini AI gets its own chatty iPhone app

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Google Gemini for iPhone app
The Google Gemini for iPhone app can generate images with text prompts.
Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Gemini application for iPhone that launched Thursday gives users direct access to Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant.

Have a conversation, get advice or generate images with the app.

AI falls low on user wishlists for smartphone upgrades. See what they really want.

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AI low on smartphone upgrade wishlists
iPhone and other smartphone shoppers may not have AI at top of mind.
Photo: Apple

With Apple Intelligence features coming out to much fanfare, it seems smartphone users don’t actually rank AI very high on their wishlists when considering smartphone upgrades, according to a new survey out Friday. With AI low on smartphone upgrade wishlists, what do they crave? Much higher among their hopes are longer battery life, more storage and better cameras. You know, the “classics.”

This startup pitch generator is like Siri on steroids

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Product photo of the app PitchBob.
Easily create a pitch deck with PitchBob AI, now $49.99 for a lifetime subscription (regularly $99.90).
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You know Siri, right? While she might be a tremendous help for sending a text while your hands are full, she gets confused when you ask her to do much more than that. Like creating a pitch deck for your startup? Forget it.

You’ll need a much more specialized AI tool for that. PitchBob is like Siri on steroids, helping you create a pitch from a stack of questions — now $49.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Disguise your AI writing to make it sound totally human

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Screenshot showing Undetectable Humanizer with the words
Make your AI-generated writing sound ... human!
Image: Cult of Mac Deals

AI writing tools work wonders, but AI detectors can flag your content if it leans too heavily on robo-prose. If you want your AI writing to be undetectable, you must edit all that content yourself, but it takes time to add the human touch. Sometimes, there just isn’t room in the schedule, but that’s OK. There’s a robot for that, too. You can use an AI humanizer like Undetectable Humanizer.

The Undetectable Humanizer transforms your AI-generated text into natural, human-like prose to help it bypass AI detection systems. This tool is a great get for writers, content creators and business owners who need to save as much time as they can when creating engaging content. A lifetime subscription to this effective AI humanizer is on sale now for $139.99 (regularly $2,880).

California governor vetoes major AI safety bill

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California governor vetoes AI safety bill
California's bill tried to put some teeth into AI safety regulations. It won't be the last try.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

On Sunday California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1047, a set of controversial artificial intelligence safety regulations with several mandates for companies, objecting to its approach. So the state’s many AI players, including Apple, won’t have to change how they work or face potential penalties because of that particular legislation.

But despite leaving SB 1047 unsigned, Newswom said he does believe in the need for AI safety regulation.

California’s controversial AI safety bill moves closer to reality

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California passes AI safety law
For better or worse, California leads the way on reigning in the potential dangers of powerful AI models.
Photo: Pexels-cottonbro

California’s legislature passed a hotly contested AI safety bill Thursday — the groundbreaking Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047).

The controversial bill, which awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature before it can become law, introduces the first major AI regulations in the United States. It could have far-reaching implications for tech companies and users alike.

Major websites opt out of Apple’s content scraping to train AI

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websites opt out of Apple AI scraping
Bot crawlers scraping website content for training AI is more controversial than other uses, like improving search functionality.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Many prominent news outlets and social media platforms have opted out of Apple’s AI training data collection via website scraping, according to a new report Thursday.

Apple does it through a new tool called Applebot-Extended, which the iPhone giant introduced less than three months ago. If major content websites opt out of Apple AI scraping, that could have implications for the continuing development of Apple Intelligence.

Apple shows why it’s ahead in AI, not behind

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Animation showing Apple Intelligence on iPhone
Apple Intelligence is a powerful LLM that runs both in the cloud and on-device.
Image: Apple

Contrary to popular opinion, Apple appears to be ahead in AI — and in some cases seems far in front of the competition. The revelation comes from an Apple white paper that hasn’t gotten much attention, but should.

A white paper on Apple’s Foundation Model, the company’s homegrown LLM (large-language model) that powers Apple Intelligence, reveals two important facts: it’s the safest in design and highly competitive with both Meta’s Llama and OpenAI’s GPT-4. This seems to debunk a big myth about Apple’s AI efforts: that the company’s privacy-first philosophy would hold it back.

The Apple Foundation Model is just as capable in tests of writing and summarization compared to the top LLMs by OpenAI, Meta, Mistral AI and others. And thanks to Apple’s strict guidelines for expunging harmful content, human-evaluated tests repeatedly rank its foundation model as the safest above all the rest — by a wide margin.

It looks like Apple Intelligence could be off to a good start.