How to run your own LLM

You can run DeepSeek, Llama and others locally on your Mac.

Author

Leander Kahney
April 10, 2025

There are lots of good reasons to download a large language model and run it locally on your Mac.

You get better privacy and security, for one. Plus, it’s cheaper: Your usage isn’t metered.

You can also custom-train the LLM on your own data, and even use it to develop your own AI agents.

Surprisingly, you don’t need a massive Mac Pro with a bajillion gigabytes of unified memory. You can run a decent LLM with as little as 8GB of unified memory (although 16GB is the recommended minimum if you don’t want to reduce your Mac to a crawl).

And here’s the best part: Your custom LLM will teach you how to make your own cocaine!

If you ask ChatGPT how to do this, it will scold you for even asking, whereas a model like Llama 2 Uncensored will quite happily walk you through the entire process. You can also run your own uncensored image generators.

Here’s how to become the next Walter White, courtesy of running an LLM on your Mac.

Also in today’s newsletter:

  • A few days ago, I joked about how I’d love a future Apple Watch that could detect cancer. Every time I have the slightest ailment, I imagine the worst. But it turns out that your Apple Watch already can!

  • I love to repair things. A successful fix gives me a deep sense of satisfaction. I’ve tried repairing my own iPhone several times, with mixed success. I ruined my original iPhone by brutishly prying the back off, but subsequent DIY repairs fared better. Apple’s made big strides in empowering domestic Genius Bar wannabes with tools, guides and parts — and now the new iPhone 16e has been added to the list.

  • For some weird reason, I just can’t bear to delete my massive Messages archive. It’s eating up tons of storage across all my Apple devices, but I’m afraid I’ll delete messages or pictures I might want in the future. There are several ways to offload and backup your archive, but AnyTrans makes it super-easy — and Cult of Mac Deals offers best-of-web pricing on this powerful file-management software. (Just be sure to use code LIFETIME10 at checkout.)

  • Years ago, I wired my house with Ethernet, which now sits unused in the walls. For most things, Wi-Fi proves fast enough for me. But if you need a reliable, super-high-speed connection, check out our hands-on review of a new MacBook Ethernet dongle. It works great!

  • I’m surprised how few readers run Windows on their Mac these days, according to the results of yesterday’s poll. See below.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

How to run DeepSeek and other LLMs locally on your Mac

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On April 10, 1985, Steve Jobs was removed as general manager of the Macintosh division after a showdown with Apple CEO John Sculley.

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One more thing ...

❝

I love what we're doing at Apple now, I think it's the best work that Apple's ever done. But I think all of us on the Mac team point to that as the high point of our careers. It's like The Beatles playing Shea Stadium. We were really working 14-to-18-hour days, seven days a week. For, like, two years, three years. That was our life. But we loved it, we were young, and we could do it.

— Steve Jobs, 2006.

Today’s poll

Any interest in running your own LLM manually?

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Results from yesterday’s poll: Do you ever run Windows on your Mac?

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