Definition

Local processing runs a language model on your own hardware, so inputs need not go to a model provider (An AI provider runs language models and sells access to them, for example OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude) or Google (Gemini).). In a hybrid setup, working files stay local while a cloud model receives only the excerpts a task needs.

What it means for you

We quote a local or hybrid solution separately. It suits you if you want to process confidential information locally and have suitable hardware. For a hybrid setup, we examine which excerpts reach the cloud model.

Where the term comes up

More terms

  • CloudThe cloud means computers in a provider’s data centres on which programs run and data is kept, instead of on your own device.
  • Language model (AI model, LLM)A language model is the actual AI behind an AI assistant: it has learned from a great deal of text and writes an answer to an input.
  • Vault and vault templateThe vault is a folder of your working files on your computer; we create it from the vault template.

All terms