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Local AI runs a model on your computer, so most problems come from memory, disk space or the one-time model download. Open Settings › AI and read the status line under Local AI. Each status has one button that fixes it.
Local AI is included with an Elephas trial or paid plan. In Personal workspaces it needs a short online plan check about once an hour and after each restart.

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Before you start

  • Open Settings › AI and check that Local (on this computer) is selected under How Elephas answers.
  • Local AI downloads a model once, about 1.2 GB to 5.3 GB depending on the model, plus the on-device AI engine. Make sure you have a connection and free disk space for the first setup.
  • See choose a local model for which model suits your computer.

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Status messages in Settings › AI

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Messages in Ask

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Steps: switch to a smaller model

1

Open the model list

Open Settings › AI. Under Local AI, find Which model.
2

Pick a smaller model

Choose a smaller model, or Choose for me to let Elephas pick the best model this computer can run comfortably. Models marked Probably too big for this computer. You can still try it. are the likeliest to fail.
3

Download it

Changing the choice downloads nothing on its own. Click the download button that names the model and its size, and confirm.
4

Wait for Local AI ready

When the status reads Local AI ready with the model name, ask again.

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How it works

  • Which model. Elephas offers three models. Choose for me picks by your computer’s memory: Qwen 2B on any computer, Qwen 4B from 8 GB of memory, and Qwen 9B from 20 GB. On Windows, Elephas also checks how much memory is free right now and steps down if needed.
  • Starting up. The engine starts when you first ask with Local AI and stays loaded until you quit or switch away. If it stops, Elephas restarts it on your next question, a few times, before it shows Local AI couldn’t start.
  • What stays local. In Local AI mode, your question, the passages it reads and the answer are generated on your computer and not sent to any AI provider. Elephas still goes online for the plan check. See what data is sent to AI.
  • No silent fallback. If Local AI is not ready, Elephas does not quietly send your question to a cloud AI. It tells you and waits.
Firewalls. The local models download from huggingface.co and the on-device AI engine from next.elephas.ai. On a work network, ask your IT team to allow both.

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Troubleshooting

Your computer does not have enough memory for the smallest model. On Windows, quit memory-heavy apps and restart Elephas. Otherwise use Elephas AI or your own API key.
Local answers depend on your computer. A smaller model answers faster. Open Details under Local AI to see load time, time to first word, speed and memory use for the last answer.
Check the badge under the answer. It reads Answered by: This computer for Local AI. If not, make sure Local (on this computer) is selected in Settings › AI.

Run Local AI

Choose a local model

Use Elephas offline

System requirements