Z80-μLM
Chatbot in AI tools
People enjoy this tiny conversational AI that fits in 40KB and its surprisingly good interaction for its size. Critics say it would be very slow on real vintage hardware.
People enjoy this tiny conversational AI that fits in 40KB and its surprisingly good interaction for its size. Critics say it would be very slow on real vintage hardware.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 12 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Surprisingly good interaction despite limits
“The interaction is surprisingly good despite the lack of attention mechanism”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Z80-μLM, a 'Conversational AI' That Fits in 40KB” “It's a huge leap in intelligence”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Z80-μLM, a 'Conversational AI' That Fits in 40KB”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Very slow on real hardware
“Though it'll still be kinda slow on a Model I, I've written an about 9 times faster Z-80 code”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Z80-μLM, a 'Conversational AI' That Fits in 40KB” “It runs, but it would be very slow on actual hardware.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Z80-μLM, a 'Conversational AI' That Fits in 40KB” Generated from a single prompt
“It's just one-shot AI slop - literally, the prompt was 'make a web based version of [github url of this project]' and it spat this out. It appears to work fine.”
Comment from 31 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Z80-μLM, a 'Conversational AI' That Fits in 40KB”
What people said
8 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Though it'll still be kinda slow on a Model I, I've written an about 9 times faster Z-80 code”
“It runs, but it would be very slow on actual hardware.”
“It's just one-shot AI slop - literally, the prompt was 'make a web based version of [github url of this project]' and it spat this out. It appears to work fine.”
“10 year old me would have found that absolutely magical back in the 1980s.”
“The interaction is surprisingly good despite the lack of attention mechanism”
“It's a huge leap in intelligence”
“given the extreme terseness of its replies”
“This couldn't be more perfectly timed”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.