GB1: The AI from the UK
Your private, planet-friendly AI assistant from the UK.
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James Drayson

GB1: The AI from the UK - Your private, planet-friendly AI assistant from the UK.

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GB1: The AI from the UK
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Meet GB1 — the private, planet‑friendly AI assistant from the UK. Built as an alternative to big tech AI, GB1 runs on 100% renewable UK energy, never trains on your chats, and keeps your data in the UK. Powered by Locai L1 Large, the first British foundational AI model, GB1 delivers frontier performance without trading privacy, principles or the planet. Create Spaces for projects, chat across web and mobile, and help shape the roadmap by voting on features. Available now on web & mobile

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James Drayson
Maker
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Hey everyone, I’m James, CEO & co‑founder of Locai Labs, a new foundational AI company from the UK and the team behind GB1. We love AI, but we hated how it was being built. Today it’s controlled by a handful of companies, trained on data without consent, and powered by infrastructure that isn’t sustainable. So we decided to build the AI we believe in - private, sustainable and independent. We’re a small startup out of London trying to be the polar opposite of big tech. GB1 is private by default, we never train on your chats (even for free users), and your data never leaves the UK. GB1 runs entirely on GPUs in the UK powered by 100% renewable energy, so every message you send is processed on renewables. We’re also building in the open, with a community‑driven roadmap where you can suggest ideas and upvote what we build next. Under the hood is our model, Locai L1 Large, the first British foundational AI model. We post‑trained it on Qwen‑3 using our Forget‑Me‑Not framework that allows the model to improve itself. We focused on stronger reasoning and instruction following, reduced censorship for more neutral alignment, and expanded support for under‑represented languages like Welsh, Irish and Scottish. Key highlights: • Private by default, we never train on your chats (even for free users) • Your data never leaves the UK • Runs on 100% renewable energy • Powered by Locai L1 Large, the first British foundational AI model • Stronger reasoning, more neutral alignment, and support for under‑represented languages • Community‑driven roadmap with feature voting This launch is just the start with lots of new updates, features and models on the way! Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and questions, and if you like what we’re building, an upvote means a lot! Cheers, James
Simon Wallace

Congratulations on the launch, going to be keeping an eye on this. It's great to see a UK business taking on this and giving options in the market.

Is it just a Chat interface or do you have platform API?

James Drayson
Maker

@dr_simon_wallace Thanks so much for the support! Our API is in early access and are sending out invites on a rolling basis! If you add your details to our alpha tester programme here we can get you setup: Locai alpha tester programme

PAR

Following with interest. So far it is working well and communication from the devs is timely and useful. It also shifts the tech focus from US centrism - which seems to be the flavour of the day lately, all for it.

James Drayson
Maker

Thanks for the support@par4 !! We’re really excited to bring to life some of the ideas coming from the GB1 community, stay tuned, we’ve got some more exciting things cooking!

Julian Francis

The framing matters here. "Private by default" isn't a feature — it's a value statement. Most AI tools make privacy a premium. You've made it the foundation. The planet angle is quietly bold too. Curious how users respond to that — do people actually feel the difference, or does it stay invisible until the moment they need it most?

James Drayson
Maker

Appreciate the support@julian_francis ! Privacy is something rly important to us which we won't compromise on. If AI really is going to be the future, we should not repeat the same mistakes as social media

Kasiel Chiodo

Have been using it since the web app. Glad to see the app release. The Spaces feature is definitely cool and unique. The customisation helps to make it feel my own, esp for my phone.

James Drayson
Maker

Thanks@kasiel_chiodo ! We have some cool ideas to make spaces even better! Def check out our discord and suggest what more features you would like to see :)