Ghost, a startup founded by 19-year-old Zain Javaid, has raised $11 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to build Core, a $3,499 computer designed specifically for personal AI agents. Javaid, a former quant, said ChatGPT reignited his interest in technology and led him to start the company. The founding team also includes Nicholas Chua, 19, Yifei Chen, 24, and Gautam Sharda, 23.
Core is a screenless "brain in a box" that users interact with through a phone or app. It includes an Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 SFF Blackwell GPU, a custom software layer, browser, and filing system, and comes with three models preinstalled, with the option to add more from Hugging Face. The idea is to centralize a person's data—from desktop files to smart-home devices—so agents can take actions and proactively assist, such as flagging a possible illness based on heart rate and activity patterns.
Javaid emphasizes privacy and user control: all processing and memory stay on the device, data is encrypted, and a firewall monitors outgoing requests to block unauthorized actions. Users can set how much autonomy agents have, and the device is designed to keep working even if Ghost shuts down. Preorders open Monday, with shipping scheduled for late October.