Nextcloud sucks. Its better to have discreet docker services running for what you actually need vs nextcloud being a monolith of shitty plugins. As for hardware, go on eBay and buy a cheap optiplex tower. It'll get you started.
Being non-foss makes this a non starter for a lot of people, especially when there are foss tools for this stuff already. Hopefully the devs can land on their feet but I'm not surprised theyre sinking.
I don't understand why we keep caring about this. AI "guard rails" will never be 100%. But beyond that everything is a google search away. Why does this matter?
If it was a person maybe. But these are objects. Objects have no expectation of privacy.