[vrtx0]

Thank you! This is exactly the information the OP seems to have missed. It seems to confirm my suspicion that the author’s concerns about server-side privacy are unfounded — I think:

> The client decrypts the reply to its PNNS query, which may contain multiple candidate landmarks. A specialized, lightweight on-device reranking model then predicts the best candidate…

[please correct me if I missed anything — this used to be my field, but I’ve been disabled for 10 years now, so grain of salt]

[chikere232]

The devil is in the proprietary details though.

[vrtx0]

Sorry, what do you mean by “proprietary details”?

[sbuk]

They are alluding to the fact that the implementation is closed source, and therefore "untrustworthy". It's a trite point, of course, but not without some merit.

[vrtx0]

I don’t see any merit, honestly. That would assume one is able to audit every bit of code they run, including updates, and control the build system.

I mean, the Wally paper contains enough information to effectively implement homomorphic encryption for similar purposes. The field was almost entirely academic ~12 years ago…

I miss talking shop on HN. Comments like that are why we can’t have nice things.

[sbuk]

I do agree that everything is politicized. I'd have liked to have seen an explanation for laypeople and perhaps the option being opt-in. To me, there is some merit in that stance. It is a side-note. It is a shame that we can't talk about these things openly without people getting offended because of it.