Getting Started In AI
Welcome! If you want to start building with AI — whether on your own machine, on your own terms, or online with the big platforms — this guide gets you from zero to your first AI project. Pick your path below.
Offline AI
Run AI models on your own computer. Nothing leaves your machine: fully private, free to use, works without an internet connection once set up.
- Best for privacy & independence
- Uses Ollama or LM Studio
- Great for learning how models really work
Online AI
Use the most powerful frontier models over the internet: OpenAI, Anthropic and Llama APIs. Faster to the front line, no hardware needed.
- Best for maximum capability
- Uses OpenAI Codex, Claude Opus or Llama API
- Small API costs, no PC specs required
Which path is right for me?
Choose offline if you want complete privacy, zero running costs, and you have a reasonably modern computer (8GB+ RAM recommended, better with 16GB+).
Choose online if you want the strongest possible models with no hardware demands, you're happy to pay small per-use API fees, and an internet connection is always available.
Many people do both: start online to learn fast, then move workloads offline as your needs and confidence grow.