In plain English
A model is the trained brain running underneath your AI assistant. GPT, Claude, Gemini and Llama are all models, each trained a bit differently. ChatGPT and Claude are the apps you type into; under the bonnet they run a model, sometimes a few different ones depending on what you pick.
Some models are enormous and live on company servers. Others are small enough to run on your own laptop, called local models. Some only handle text; others do images or voice too. Bigger usually means sharper but needs an internet connection and usually costs money. A local one is private, free and works offline, but noticeably less capable.
A worked example
Imagine you’ve got a confidential document about your business and want AI help going through it. Paste it into a big hosted model and it travels to that company’s servers. Download a small local model onto your own laptop instead and nobody but you ever sees that document. Ask both the same question.
The big one answers in seconds with something sharp and detailed. The small one takes a good while longer and gives you something decent but rougher round the edges. What you actually get is a choice: speed and polish, or privacy and quiet.
The usual mix-up
People assume newer and bigger always wins. It doesn’t. A huge model can be overkill for a simple job and cost more than it needed to, while a small local one does the job fine, quietly, on your own machine.
Where you’ll use it
- How to get AI torun on my own computerBuild something · free tools
- How to get AI tostop making things upResearch & discover · free tools
- How to get AI tobe honest with meResearch & discover · free tools
Also comes up in: help me understand my symptoms, cite me, compare products before I buy, create a knitting pattern, create an image, edit my writing, tell me what is in a photo, make a logo, make a poster, make a presentation, handle my emails, read my website, help me research a topic, sound more human, summarise a document, talk to me out loud, transcribe an audio recording, write a social post, write a speech, help me write an essay, write my CV.