Local AI

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

Local AI means running AI models on your own computer instead of sending data to the cloud. No internet needed, no API costs, and your data never leaves your machine. The tradeoff? You need decent hardware and the models are usually smaller than the cloud ones. But for privacy-sensitive work or offline use, it's the way to go. It's like having your own personal chef instead of ordering Uber Eats.

Real Talk

Local AI refers to running inference on machine learning models locally using consumer hardware rather than cloud APIs. Tools like Ollama, llama.cpp, LM Studio, and vLLM enable running quantized open-weight models on CPUs, GPUs, or Apple Silicon. Benefits include data privacy, zero API costs, offline availability, and full control. Limitations include hardware requirements and smaller model sizes.

When You'll Hear This

"We run local AI for the medical data — HIPAA compliance requires it." / "Local AI is free after the hardware investment."