Offline AI works without an internet connection after models are downloaded — useful for travel, air-gapped networks, and privacy.
Offline AI is any AI system that keeps working when Wi‑Fi and cellular are off. After you download models and software once, inference happens locally — the same pattern Ollama documents for running without network access once models are pulled.
Common offline setups: Ollama + a quantized Llama model, the Jan desktop app (markets offline-first chat), or LM Studio with airplane-mode testing. Phones can run smaller models via dedicated offline chat apps built on on-device runtimes.
Offline does not mean zero setup — you still need storage and compatible hardware. It does mean no API keys, no data exfiltration, and no surprise outages when a vendor has downtime.