Private AI vs ChatGPT: what is the difference for an office?

Both let you ask questions in plain English and get answers, drafts and summaries. The big difference is where the AI runs, and so where your documents and questions end up.

Where your documents and questions go

A cloud service such as ChatGPT runs on the provider's computers. When you type a question or upload a file, it is sent over the internet to those computers. The provider has terms that say what happens to it, so it is worth reading them and checking them against your own obligations.

A private AI computer runs the AI model on a computer in your own office. Your staff open it in a web browser on the office network. Your documents and questions stay on that computer. Web search is the one exception, and it is off unless you switch it on.

Speed

A cloud service sends your question over the internet to the provider's data centre, which can be in another country, and the answer travels all the way back. That can be thousands of kilometres. A private AI computer keeps the journey short: your question only has to travel across your office and back.

It also means steady speed. It is not affected by a busy service or an internet outage, and only your own team shares it. How quick it feels depends on the model and the build, and the best way to know is to try it. See it on one of your own documents.

What each does well

• Cloud services usually run very large models, so they are often stronger at hard reasoning and general knowledge. They need no hardware from you, but they are usually a monthly subscription per person.
• A private AI computer is a one-off purchase with no subscription for the AI. It answers from your own files, and you can see which documents an answer came from. It uses open-source models that run on the graphics cards in the box, so it will not match the biggest cloud models on every task.

The trade-offs to know about

• The box has to be switched on, and it works on your office network. Working from home would need a secure remote connection.
• Bigger builds can run bigger models, so what you can do depends on what you buy. See our builds.
• Both kinds of AI can get things wrong. Check anything important against the source document. Neither is legal, financial or medical advice.

Which is right for your office?

If your staff mostly want answers from your own files, such as contracts, policies, client records and past reports, and you would rather those files never left the office, a private AI computer is built for that. If you need the strongest general-purpose model for open-ended work, a cloud service may suit that part better. Some offices use both, keeping confidential material on the private box.

Read more: Using AI on your office's own documents and What to ask before you buy.