What “local AI in your browser” actually means

In a browser-based local chat, the model files are downloaded to your device and the reply is computed there. The website still has to deliver its pages and files. Local inference describes where the calculation happens; it does not describe every aspect of the website’s privacy or reliability.

The first visit can include a model download

A model is more than the chat page you see. Its weights must be available to the runtime before it can generate text. A prepared site can show the download size and reuse cached files on later visits. That can reduce repeated downloads, but it should not promise that the browser will retain them forever.

Browsers set their own storage quotas and can remove data under storage pressure. Persistent-storage requests may help when granted, but users can still clear site data. MDN explains these differences in its storage and eviction guide.

A device check is only a first step

WebGPU gives a supporting browser access to GPU computation. Its availability depends on the browser and environment, and it requires a secure context. See the WebGPU documentation. A successful capability check does not establish that a particular model will fit in memory, export correctly, or return useful answers.

Look at the whole privacy path

A local model can avoid sending your prompt to a remote inference service. Separately, page requests can still reach a hosting provider, and analytics can still exist. Read the site’s privacy notice instead of treating “local” as a complete privacy statement. Downloading a model also does not mean every part of the website works offline.

What this means for Flyingkiwi

Flyingkiwi’s chat now works this way: the selected language’s model downloads once from this site, every file is checked, and replies are generated on your device by a WebAssembly engine. See the privacy notice for storage and hosting details, or the technical area for how the models were built and evaluated.