For much of his life, Zain Javaid wanted to be a quant who uses math and data to guide his investment decisions. After the release of ChatGPT in 2022, his focus shifted toward personal artificial intelligence.
That interest led him to start Ghost, which emerged from stealth after a year of development with an $11 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors include Abstract, Audacious Ventures, SV Angel, and Nova. His founding team includes Nicholas Chua, Yifei Chen, and Gautam Sharda.
Introducing Core
Ghost’s first product is Core, a desktop computer designed specifically for AI agents that can take actions on a user’s behalf. The system centralizes personal data—from desktop files to apps and smart home devices—into a single piece of hardware built to continuously run assistants, perform tasks, and process information.
Image Credits:Ghost
Hardware and Pricing
Core includes an Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 SFF Blackwell GPU bundled into the device’s $3,499 price tag. The system features its own software layer, browser, and filing system designed to process information without constant prompting. Preorders open Monday, with shipping scheduled for late October.
Described as a screenless system accessed via a phone or app, Core supports voice commands through its mobile interface. The computer comes with three models preinstalled: Qwen-3.8-Next, Qwen-3.8-27B, and Gemma-4-31B.
Software and Flexibility
Users can install additional models from Hugging Face or load custom trained models. Unlike a general-purpose Mac Mini configured for AI, Core's hardware and software were built specifically for running autonomous agents out of the box.
The company supports over-the-air updates for new models and system improvements, allowing users to enable automatic updates to keep the latest model generations running.
Privacy and Security
Built at the company's San Francisco facility, Core runs models and personal memory locally with encrypted information to prevent third-party access. Users control agent autonomy, and the device is engineered to function independently if the company ever shuts down.
All source code, logic, and model weights reside directly on the device rather than external cloud services, reducing reliance on outside infrastructure.
An integrated firewall monitors outgoing network requests to restrict credential usage, blocking unauthorized data exfiltration and flagging suspicious actions for user review.
Once purchased, the hardware, memory, and data remain entirely under the owner's control.
Market Outlook
Despite potential competition from tech incumbents, leadership remains focused on software capabilities such as reasoning, memory management, and proactive task execution.
Core is designed to use contextual data—such as elevated heart rate, computer activity history, and seasonal trends—to anticipate user needs and deliver proactive notifications.
The team's primary objective is building a compelling product rather than worrying about major industry rivals.
Above, Core’s founding team (L-R): Gautam Sharda, 23; Yifei Chen, 24; Zain Javaid, 19; and Nicholas Chua, 19.
