Why the environmentalist in me loves edge AI? - The story of creating VibeEdit

I'm probably an odd-one-out user on this platform.

My day job is being the founder of a sustainability tech startup that has less to do with software and more to do with nano-materials and fighting plastic pollution in my home country. The reason I do this is because I truly care for the environment and had always dreamed of using my technical skills one day to save the planet (before I embark on my next dream of traveling through the infinity of space🪐).

Now you might be thinking that I'm some sort of chemicals engineer or scientist working in a remote lab🧪. Well, not entirely false as I'm self-studying to transition to such a role, but I earned my undergraduate degree in Computer Science. So every now and then I dabble my feet into making something cool, just for the sake of not letting my skills vanish😅. And lately I've been experimenting with edge AI because it’s not only cool, it’s far more environmentally friendly than cloud-based models. Running AI directly on microcontrollers and smartphones means no datacenters, no energy-hungry servers—just whatever battery the device already has. A smaller carbon footprint for powerful AI.

That’s how VibeEdit was born.

It’s an app I started prototyping 2 weeks ago that uses efficient on-device models to let anyone generate background music 🎶 for their videos using a simple prompt, edit using voice 🎙️, and upload instantly to social platforms.

I imposed some constraints to create a one-of-a-kind yet simple to use app -

• It should run offline so that people living even in the remotest regions with a low-end smartphone can utilize the benefits of cutting edge AI technology.

• It should not drain too much battery per use.

• It should be pretty simplistic and intuitive to use.

• If possible, it should create me a revenue stream without being too financially heavy on end-users so that I also stay motivated to support the app.

I somehow got the app up and running on the android emulators, but I'm far from releasing a proper usable version. However I'm spending an hour to two everyday to have the usable version ready asap.

If you want early access or want to test the beta, drop a comment or DM me. I’d love feedback from real creators. 🚀

In the next post I hope to share some updates on the UI.