Running AI without the cloud.
WHAT THEY ARE
Smaller models that run on ordinary hardware rather than requiring large data centres.
WHY THEY MATTER
Data stays on your own machine, which matters for confidential material No per-use cost No internet dependency Faster for some tasks
WHAT THEY CAN DO
Summarisation Classification Simple drafting Extraction
WHAT THEY CANNOT DO AS WELL
Complex reasoning Long context Nuanced writing Specialised knowledge
THE TRADE-OFF
Considerably less capable than the largest hosted models, and sufficient for many narrow tasks.
WHO THIS SUITS
Organisations with confidentiality requirements High-volume simple tasks where cost matters Situations with unreliable connectivity
WHAT IT REQUIRES
Reasonable hardware, and someone to set it up.
FOR MOST SMALL BUSINESSES
A hosted service is simpler and more capable.
Local models become interesting when confidentiality or cost is the driving concern.
