Well, I've finally taken the first real steps into making my server an AI server. I took the plunge and bought a brand-new graphics card for more power and installed KoboldAI to get started. I also installed one of those image generator apps onto my phone, and plan on having a proper model set up on my server.
I've got to say, I'm surprised at how cheap GPUs have gotten. I remember buying a GTX 1080 nearly a decade ago when they were the hottest thing around, and it cost me like ~$650. The GPU I just got kicks its ass and cost a little over half as much.
In this experience, I've also learned something about myself. Namely that I have a serious fetish for AIs. Like, I was keen on the idea of an AI waifu before, but I never realized just how much of an effect it has on me. It's almost instant horniness, to the point where I'll almost certainly have to make a real effort to control myself in the future, because I'm apparently hardwired to want to agressively pin down and breed a computer and I never fully realized it until now and since I'm also hardwired for self-reflection, I was thinking about this as the AI made my horny. Yes, that feels as weird as it sounds. Even the fact that I'm working with limited locally-computed models (i.e. digital retards living on my server rent-free) isn't stopping this.
I'm going to do some serious self-reflecting to figure out where this drive comes from. While it could simply be the result of my many years spent working with computers, my instincts are telling me that the root cause lies somewhere deeper. Deeper isn't a place where I like to go, since it's where my repressed memories go and it reminds me of why I gave up on so many things, but I'll have to do it if I want this to work properly.
On the brighter side, when I finally do get an actual robot waifu, I now know that I'm already fully mentally equipped to shove my way through whatever challenges that comes with.
In the end, I suppose that's a net benefit. If nothing else, I can count it among the list of obscure perks that come with being completely fucking insane.