In Brief (TL;DR)
Learn how to install and run AI models locally with Ollama and DeepSeek to ensure maximum privacy for your information.
Discover how to install and run language models on your computer to ensure maximum privacy for your data.
Find out how to run AI models directly on your computer to ensure maximum protection and confidentiality for your data.
The devil is in the details. 👇 Keep reading to discover the critical steps and practical tips to avoid mistakes.
Digital privacy has become the new frontier of personal and corporate security in Italy and across Europe. The enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence often clashes with the legitimate fear of sharing sensitive data with servers located overseas. However, there is a solution that combines technological innovation with traditional confidentiality: local AI.
Running language models directly on your own computer is no longer exclusive to software engineers. Tools like Ollama and advanced models like DeepSeek have democratized this technology. It’s now possible to have a virtual assistant as powerful as commercial ones, but completely offline and under your exclusive control.
This approach deeply resonates with the Italian and Mediterranean entrepreneurial culture. Think of the artisan’s “bottega” (workshop), where trade secrets are jealously guarded within the laboratory walls. Local AI allows for the modernization of this concept, bringing innovation to production processes without ever exposing your know-how to third parties.
Adopting local AI systems is not just a technical choice, but an act of digital sovereignty that protects the unique value of “Made in Italy” in the age of Big Data.
The European Context: GDPR and Data Sovereignty
The European Union has distinguished itself globally for its focus on protecting citizens’ data. The GDPR and the recent AI Act impose strict rules on how information is processed. Using cloud services often involves data transfers, creating regulatory gray areas that concern businesses and professionals.
Local AI eliminates this problem at its root. The data never leaves your hard drive. There’s no cloud, no transfer, and no risk of interception or of your data being used to train others’ models. It is the ultimate expression of privacy-by-design compliance.
For Italian companies, this means being able to analyze balance sheets, legal contracts, or industrial patents with the help of AI, without the fear of this information falling into the wrong hands. It’s a return to the direct management of resources, a core value of our economic tradition.
Ollama: The AI Engine on Your PC
Ollama represents a breakthrough for the accessibility of artificial intelligence on consumer hardware. It is an open-source software designed to drastically simplify the process of installing and managing language models (LLMs) locally. Before Ollama, setting up an AI required advanced skills in Python and dependency management.
Today, with Ollama, the experience is comparable to installing any other app. It natively supports macOS, Linux, and Windows, making it versatile for any work environment. It acts as an “engine” that runs the “models,” autonomously managing the allocation of hardware resources, such as RAM and the power of the graphics card.
If you want to learn more about how to configure this specific tool, we recommend reading the guide on AI on Your PC for Free and Offline with Ollama, which details the initial technical steps.
DeepSeek: The Innovation Challenging the Giants
If Ollama is the engine, DeepSeek is the high-performance fuel. DeepSeek is a family of language models that has shaken up the market with its incredible efficiency and reasoning capabilities. In particular, the “Coder” and “MoE” (Mixture of Experts) models offer performance comparable to GPT-4 on many tasks, while being runnable on powerful home computers.
The uniqueness of DeepSeek lies in its architecture. Instead of activating the entire digital “brain” for every question, it only activates the experts needed for that specific request. This reduces resource consumption and speeds up responses, making it ideal for local use where hardware is limited compared to data centers.
To understand how this model stacks up against cloud competitors, it’s helpful to consult the comparison in the practical guide to the best AI of 2025.
Tradition and Innovation: Use Cases in Italy
The integration of local AI fits perfectly with the Italian economic fabric, made up of SMEs and professional firms. Imagine a law firm that needs to analyze hundreds of confidential documents. Uploading them to a public platform would violate professional secrecy. With DeepSeek running on a secure local server, the analysis is done in-house, speeding up the work without risk.
There is also room for this technology in the manufacturing and artisanal sectors. A design company can use AI to generate product descriptions or technical translations, keeping unreleased catalogs secure until the official launch. It’s the digital equivalent of locking the workshop door.
Furthermore, independence from an internet connection ensures operational continuity. In many areas of Italy where broadband can be intermittent, having an artificial intelligence residing on the machine ensures that work never stops.
Hardware Requirements: What You Really Need
Running a model like DeepSeek locally requires resources. An old office laptop isn’t enough. The critical component is RAM, and more specifically, the graphics card’s VRAM if you want speed. Language models need to be “loaded” into memory to function.
Here is a rough estimate of the required resources:
- Small models (7-8 Billion parameters): Minimum 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended). They run well on many modern laptops.
- Medium models (14-32 Billion parameters): Minimum 16GB of VRAM or 32GB of fast system RAM (e.g., Apple Silicon).
- Large models (70+ Billion parameters): Require professional workstations with dual GPUs or a Mac Studio with plenty of unified memory.
Investing in the right hardware today means saving on monthly API subscription costs tomorrow, while ensuring total data ownership.
For a detailed overview of the technical specifications to support these workloads, consult our complete hardware and software guide for AI.
Step-by-Step Installation: A Summary
The process to get your local AI system up and running is surprisingly straightforward. The technical barrier has been significantly lowered in the last year. Here’s the basic logic to start experimenting right away.
First, download and install Ollama from the official website. Once installed, open your computer’s terminal. Don’t be afraid of the command line: the commands are simple and intuitive. By typing a command like ollama run deepseek-coder, the software will automatically download the model and open a chat.
From that moment on, everything you write stays on your machine. You can unplug the network cable, and the AI will continue to respond. For those seeking 360-degree security, we also suggest reading about how to protect your privacy and data online more broadly.
User Interfaces: Making AI Friendly
Although the terminal is powerful, many users prefer a graphical interface similar to ChatGPT. Fortunately, the open-source ecosystem offers multiple solutions that connect to Ollama. Software like “Open WebUI” or “LM Studio” provide a polished and familiar visual experience.
These interfaces allow you to organize chats, save history, and even upload documents (PDF, Word) for the AI to analyze. All of this always happens locally. It’s possible to create a corporate “Knowledge Base” where the AI answers based on your internal manuals, without them ever leaving the office.
This setup is ideal for those who need to handle sensitive data but want the convenience of modern AI chats. To delve deeper into the security implications of chatbots, we refer you to our secure guide to chatbots and privacy.
Conclusion
The adoption of local AI through tools like Ollama and models like DeepSeek represents a turning point for the Italian and European markets. It offers a perfect synthesis between the need for technological innovation and the culture of confidentiality and data protection that distinguishes us.
It’s not just about saving on subscription costs or operating offline. It’s about regaining control of your information in an era where data is the most valuable asset. Whether you are a professional, creative, or entrepreneur, investing time in setting up a local AI is a strategic step toward the future.
The technology is ready and accessible. The challenge now is cultural: moving from being passive consumers of cloud services to active guardians of one’s own digital intelligence. The tradition of the Italian “bottega” can be revived in the digital world, stronger and more secure than ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the installation is as simple and guided as any other software. It only requires using a basic command in the terminal to download and run the desired model.
Not necessarily. The lighter models run on standard laptops with 8-16GB of RAM, while a dedicated graphics card or an Apple Silicon processor is recommended for the more advanced versions.
Yes, privacy is total because the model works offline directly on your hardware. No data is sent to external or cloud servers, ensuring maximum confidentiality.
Yes, DeepSeek is a multilingual model with excellent capabilities in Italian, suitable for drafting texts, analysis, and conversation in our linguistic context.
Usage is completely free. Both the Ollama software and the DeepSeek models are open-source or freely downloadable; the only cost is that of the hardware used.
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