QLD AI Hub Brisbane - Local AI

Privacy, Security & Taking Control of Your Data

As AI becomes embedded in everyday life—from writing emails to managing photos—a critical question emerges: where does your data actually go?

This session explores the growing movement toward local AI deployment—running powerful language models on your own devices rather than sending sensitive information to cloud providers.

What we'll cover:

The privacy paradox
- What happens to your data when you use ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, and why it matters more than you might think

Your digital footprint
- How cloud AI services can build detailed profiles from your prompts, documents, and conversations

Local AI capabilities
- What's now possible to run on your laptop, phone, or home computer

Everyday use cases
- Private journaling, family photo organisation, personal finance queries, and sensitive document drafting without data leaving your device

Security considerations
- Reducing attack surfaces, keeping personal information offline, and protecting your household's privacy

Practical trade-offs
- Performance, cost, and capability differences between local and cloud solutions

Getting started, User-friendly tools like Ollama, LM Studio, and Jan that anyone can set up

Who should attend:

• Business leaders & IT professionals handling sensitive commercial data

• Healthcare, finance, legal & government workers with compliance obligations

• Parents & families concerned about children's data and household privacy

• Anyone who's ever hesitated before typing something personal into ChatGPT

No technical background required—just curiosity about taking back control of your AI experience.