Show HN: Learn from 30 historical figures, open source, nonprofit, self-hosted
Open-source AI app lets you learn from 30 historical figures—with zero data retention and full local control.
Why it matters
A privacy-first, self-hosted AI product launch that prioritizes user data protection and philosophical depth over engagement metrics. Relevant to founders building AI products that comply with GDPR and emphasize ethical design.
The key facts
18 to know30 historical figures available with AI Echo interpretations
12 narrated stories per figure with speech-to-speech conversation
Self-hosted on Hetzner GPU servers; no conversation storage, no tracking
30 free messages/day for EU-hosted version; BYOK and full local self-hosted modes available
AGPL-3.0 open source; content moving to CC-BY 4.0 within 6-12 months
Uses Qwen3-TTS (German), Kokoro TTS (English), Faster-Whisper for transcription
Nonprofit model; launched ~3 years in development, code published last month
30 historical figures available as AI Echoes
Open-source (AGPL-3.0), nonprofit German organization
Content moving to CC-BY 4.0 within 6-12 months
Speech-to-speech conversation with zero data retention
Self-hosted on Hetzner GPU servers
Uses Qwen3-TTS (German), Kokoro TTS (English), Faster-Whisper transcription
30 free messages per day, EU-hosted for GDPR compliance
BYOK option and full local self-hosted mode available
No signup, no tracking cookies, no profiling
Four learning modes plus council feature for multi-figure discussions
Deliberately slow design (anti-dopamine architecture)
Go to the source
Hacker Newsgithub.com
Publisher excerpt: Hello HN, I am the founder of Agora Cosmica. This started about three years ago. On a walk I asked a chatbot to interpret the cave dream from Cormac McCarthy's book "The Road" as C.G. Jung. It gave me a perspective I had not thought of. But for my own dreams the policies of the big providers felt…