Running your own AI, is it possible?

Hey everyone! This past week, during a remote class with my professor, as always, he asked us to comment on a news story of the week. I always choose things related to technology and in one of those I was talking about AI and my professor ended up mentioning “ollama” and I found it very interesting and decided to write a little about it!

How to Run Your Own AI on Your Computer with Ollama

During a remote class from my college, my professor always ask us to talk about something that is happening on the world, and guess what? I alw AI tools like ChatGPT are everywhere, but did you know you can run your own AI locally? With Ollama, you can have a personal AI model running directly on your computer without needing the internet. In this post, I’ll show you how to do it step by step.

🚀 What is Ollama?

Ollama is a tool that allows you to run AI models on your own machine. It is great because:

  • You don’t need an internet connection to use AI.
  • It is more private since your data stays on your computer.
  • It can be faster for some tasks because there is no server delay.
  • You can customize models to fit your needs.

Now, let’s see how to set it up!

🛠️ Installing Ollama

To run AI on your PC, first, you need to install Ollama. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Ollama website and download the installer.
  2. Install it like any other program (it’s easy!).
  3. Open your terminal (Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal on macOS/Linux).
  4. Run the command to check if Ollama is installed: 
    ollama --version
    If it shows a version number, you are good to go!

🤖 Running an AI Model

Now that Ollama is installed, let’s run a model.

  1. In your terminal, type: 
    ollama run llama2
  2. It will download the LLaMA 2 AI model (only the first time).
  3. After that, you can start chatting with your local AI!

If you want another model, just replace llama2 with the model name.

🔧 Customizing Your AI Model

One cool thing about Ollama is that you can customize models. You can:

  • Train a model with your own data.
  • Adjust its behavior and responses.
  • Use it for specific tasks like coding or writing.

For example, if you want an AI focused on programming, you can try:

ollama run codellama

🌟 Conclusion

Running AI on your own computer is now easier than ever with Ollama. It’s private, fast, and flexible. Whether you want an offline AI chatbot or a tool for coding, Ollama is a great option.

Have you tried running AI locally before?