Conway Research launched an invitation-based beta of Underdog, an AI assistant performing on-device inference on Macs and Windows 11 PCs. The company says it uses a 27-billion-parameter model and its own inference engine and encrypts keys for connected accounts. It is initially free, with future payment-transaction fees being explored as revenue instead of advertising. Performance comparisons and privacy protections are company claims, while Linux and mobile versions and the fee model should be distinguished from confirmed current features.