About Local AI

A community for anyone interested in running AI on their own machine, offline, privately, and without token costs.

What is Local AI?

The same kind of AI that powers ChatGPT and Claude can run entirely on your own laptop or desktop.

It works without an internet connection

Once it is set up on your computer, it runs entirely offline. No connection needed at all.

Your conversations stay on your machine

Nothing is sent to any server. Not to the model makers, not to anyone. It never leaves your computer.

The models are free and open source

No subscription, no per-query fees. The models are openly published and anyone can use them.

What Local AI does

Events

Casual meetups, workshops for beginners and advanced hobbyists, and demo nights where people show what they're building. In person across Australian cities and online.

View upcoming events

Curated Resources

Maintained lists of the best tools, models, projects, and links across all local AI focus areas. Kept up to date as the space moves, so you don't have to dig.

Browse resources

Online Discussions

Between meetups the community stays connected via chat. Share what you're building, get help with your setup, and stay across what's new in the open model ecosystem.

Join the chat

Everyone,
at every level

There's a lot written about local AI online but it's scattered, assumes you know the lingo, and there's nowhere to discuss it in person. This is that place.

Complete Newcomers

Never run AI locally before? Neither had most of us. Come to a meetup and see what's possible on the laptop you already own. No jargon, no prerequisites.

Hobbyists & Tinkerers

Already running models at home, testing new releases, or building your own setup? This is the in-person version of those Reddit threads.

Developers & Builders

Integrating local models into your work or projects? No API costs, no data leaving the machine. Connect with others building on the open model ecosystem.