ChatGPT vs. Local AI: What's the Difference?
ChatGPT and local AI can both hold a conversation, but they're built on opposite ideas about where your data goes and what your device needs to work.
How ChatGPT works
ChatGPT is a cloud AI product. When you send a message, it travels over the internet to OpenAI's servers, gets processed by a large language model, and the reply is sent back to your device. That means ChatGPT needs three things every time you use it: an internet connection, an account, and a live connection to OpenAI's infrastructure.
How local AI works
Local AI — also called on-device AI — puts a language model directly on your phone or computer. There's no server in the loop. An app like Cloak, a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your iPhone, downloads its model once and then answers every message using only the hardware already in your pocket.
Head-to-head comparison
| ChatGPT (cloud AI) | Local AI (e.g. Cloak) | |
|---|---|---|
| Internet required | Yes, every message | No, after the initial download |
| Account required | Yes | No |
| Where conversations are processed | On a remote server | On your own device |
| Works on a plane or in a dead zone | No | Yes |
| Typical cost model | Free tier or monthly subscription | Often a one-time purchase |
| Model size and capability | Very large, broad knowledge | Smaller, tuned to fit on a device |
| Access to live information | Can browse the web | No live internet access |
When ChatGPT makes more sense
Cloud tools like ChatGPT are the better fit when you need the largest, most capable models, want the AI to look things up on the current internet, or need to work across devices with everything synced to one account.
When local AI makes more sense
Local AI is the better fit when you care most about privacy, need something that keeps working with no internet connection, or would rather pay once than subscribe every month for a simple assistant.
Can you use both?
Most people aren't choosing one forever — they're choosing per situation. A cloud tool for research at your desk, and a local AI app for the flight, the hike, or anywhere your signal drops, cover more ground together than either one alone.
Trying local AI: Cloak
Cloak is a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your iPhone. There's no account to create and no server involved — you download the model once, and it works offline from then on.
See exactly what happens behind that screen in how Cloak works.
See what local AI feels like
Cloak is a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your iPhone — download the model once, then chat anywhere, connected or not.
