Last updated: 2026-05-09
Streetlight is a free public web AI tool for people dealing with housing insecurity, income insecurity, or other serious stress.
It is meant to help with real tasks: understanding a letter, writing something hard, figuring out what to do next, or talking something through.
It is not a lawyer, a clinician, a case manager, or a service directory. It does not replace a human who knows your situation.
The referral list is maintained by hand. The AI itself is not making up who to call.
The site is built with a few different AI steps behind the scenes. The main conversation uses Anthropic models. A second smaller pass checks whether the answer falls into a category AI is known to get wrong, like legal procedure or benefits eligibility. Read-aloud uses Microsoft Azure AI Speech when you tap Play aloud.
Different models may be used at different times to keep the tool working within a small public-interest budget.
The tool is text-first. Mic input and read-aloud are there as helpers, but pure voice use is still a gap in V1. Device voices remain as backup when natural read-aloud is unavailable.
This tool is built and maintained by one person in Seattle.
If you're depending on it, know that it might not be here forever. The code is open-source so the project can be forked or continued if needed.
The point is to make a very good AI tool available to people who usually do not get one.
It stays free, has no login, and tries to keep the privacy story as simple and honest as possible.