There's a new startup that released an add with the same value prop as my neurolous app and push back on twitter was swift:

"Isn't it cruel to charge people money when they're grieving?"

I've been thinking about this question ever since.

The Criticism is Fair

Let me be honest: the grief tech industry has a predatory potential that I find genuinely concerning.

When someone is in the depths of loss, they're vulnerable. They'll try almost anything to feel close to the person they've lost. That vulnerability can be exploited. I've seen companies charge thousands of dollars for services that deliver minimal value. I've seen marketing that promises to "bring back" loved ones or "solve grief" in ways that feel manipulative.

I don't want Neurolous to be that.

My Personal Struggle

When I first started building this, I genuinely didn't know if I would ever charge for it. This was a deeply personal project where I built an experimental app to process my own grief through technology. The idea of monetizing that felt... wrong.

But here's the reality:

Servers cost money
AI inference costs money
My time has value
I want this to exist beyond just my personal use

If Neurolous dies because it can't sustain itself financially, it helps no one. The technology disappears. The research stops. The people who might have benefited never get the chance.

The Open Source Compromise

Here's where I landed: the research is free. The MVP tools are open.

The neurolous-evals repository is completely open source. Anyone can:

Use the Narrative Alignment evaluation system
Build their own grief tech with these tools
Contribute improvements back to the project
Fork it and take it in a completely different direction

If you have the technical skills to build your own AI memorial, you have everything you need. For free.

I will also in the near future create a repo for an open source version of the chatbot that you can run locally on your own computer.

Who the App Actually Serves

The Neurolous app itself is for people who:

Don't have the technical skills to build this themselves
Want a guided, thoughtful experience
Value having someone else handle the ethical guardrails

The app isn't just raw technology but rather it's a curated experience. The AI coach guides you through meaningful questions. The system includes safety features to prevent harmful hallucinations. There's ongoing maintenance and improvement and advanced features that must be run in a cloud enviorment.

That curation, that care, that ongoing work has value.

What I Won't Do

Some things I've committed to, regardless of business pressure:

No manipulation of grief: The marketing will never promise to "bring back" your loved ones. Neurolous creates a simulation, a memorial, a preservation and not a resurrection.

No lock-in: Your data is yours. If you want to leave, you can export everything.

No premium features around desperation: I won't charge extra for "more realistic" responses during moments of acute grief. That's exploitation.

Transparent consumption based pricing: No hidden costs. No surprise subscriptions. The MVP base subscription is essentially at cost for the base features which I also will release an open source version of so you can run it locally at home. The higher subs are more avadanced featuires that cost me more but that the higher costs helps fund the AI safety research which in turn make the product better.

A Request for Feedback

I'm still figuring this out. Business models for ethical technology aren't easy, especially in spaces this emotionally charged.

If you have thoughts on how Neurolous should handle pricing, what feels fair, what feels exploitative, I want to hear them. Comment on the video. DM me. Email me.

This isn't just my project anymore. It belongs to everyone who might benefit from it.

New Tutorials

In the spirit of openness, I've also started creating tutorials on how to preserve digital memories yourself:

How to download your loved one's WhatsApp history
Organizing digital photos for AI training
The ethics of voice cloning

These will be free, always. Subscribe to the channel/devlog for updates.

The conversation about ethics in grief tech is just beginning. Join the beta and be part of shaping how we do this responsibly.