Using Elephas AI (Included Cloud AI)

Elephas AI is the cloud AI that comes with your Elephas plan. There is no key to paste and no separate bill: Elephas sends your question and the matching passages from your documents through the Elephas gateway to a model provider, and the answer comes back with citations to your files. Usage counts against your plan’s included AI allowance.

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Before you start

• Sign in to your Elephas account. See Create your account and sign in.
• Have an active trial or plan.

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Steps

The steps are the same on Mac and Windows.

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How it works

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What is sent, and where it goes

When you ask, Elephas searches your documents on your computer and sends your question, up to the last 4 chat messages and the passages it needs to the Elephas gateway. The gateway forwards them to a third-party model provider, which writes the answer. In the app’s words: “Your question and the selected sources leave this computer for the Elephas gateway, which forwards them to” the provider named on the card. “Cloud inference is not end-to-end encrypted.” Your files and your library are never uploaded. Indexing happens on your computer. Always. For the full list by option, see What data is sent to AI.

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Personal information is hidden first

With Protect personal information when using cloud AI on, which is the default, Elephas replaces many common personal details with placeholders on your computer before anything is sent, and puts them back in the answer. See Personal information protection.

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What the gateway keeps

• The gateway does not store your prompts or answers. It logs only IDs, counts and decisions, such as how much of your allowance a request used.
• The model provider’s own terms apply to what it receives. In the app’s words: “Retention and training use by the upstream and its vendors follow their own policies.” The provider is named on the Elephas AI card.
• No personal API key is used. You don’t need an account with any AI provider.

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Which model answers

Elephas chooses the model. There is no model picker for Elephas AI. Elephas reads further into your documents when a question needs it, and checks the answer against its sources before showing it. The card says Agent tools are on. Ask can search and read your sources to answer. when this is working. If you want a specific model, use your own API key.

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Your allowance

The Elephas AI card shows how much of your included AI usage you have used:

• On a paid plan: Included AI usage, as a percentage, with the date it resets. The allowance resets each month.
• On the free trial: Trial AI usage for the whole trial, plus a daily share that resets each day.

Click Refresh Usage to update it. When you are offline, the card shows the last figures it had and when. What uses the allowance, and what doesn’t:

• Uses it: questions answered by Elephas AI. Questions that read whole documents, such as summaries and “find every mention”, use more. Ask warns you: This question reads whole sources, so it may use noticeably more of your AI allowance than usual.
• Doesn’t use it: adding and indexing documents, searching, reading your chats, and answers from your own API key or Local AI.

At 80%, Elephas tells you that you’ve used most of the allowance. When it runs out, Ask says Your Elephas AI allowance is used up until the reset date, and offers Use your own key. See AI usage and credits.

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In a Team workspace

Team questions always use Elephas AI under the Team Owner’s AI policy, from an allowance pooled across the Team. An Owner or Admin can set a limit per member. If you reach yours, Ask says You’ve reached the limit your Team set for you until the reset date. See Team AI policy.

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Troubleshooting

See also AI allowance used up.

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FAQ

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