Straight answers before someone spends money.
A hardware AI product needs to reduce uncertainty quickly. These are the questions most buyers will ask before they trust the device, the company, and the local-AI argument.
Does selbsai require a cloud account?
No. The core product is designed to run locally on the device without relying on a closed-model API to function.
What kinds of work is selbsai actually good for?
The strongest fit today is drafting, retrieval, multilingual assistance, document-heavy workflows, private Q&A, and internal knowledge work.
Do I need to install models or manage Linux myself?
No. The point is to receive a configured device with the right stack already installed for the selected workload.
Can I choose renewed hardware?
Yes. Renewed devices use professionally sourced second-life hardware within a stated performance class. selbsai still inspects, resets, updates, provisions and tests the unit before shipment.
What happens if I choose preload?
You receive a secure upload route after checkout. Files are handled for the agreed provisioning task and the device ships with that context prepared.
How is this different from paying for cloud AI?
Cloud AI is rented capability. selbsai is owned local capability configured around your files, your latency, and your privacy boundary.
How do I chat with the device?
The device ships with a local chat/control surface and the selected model stack prepared. The portal remains for order documents, support, preload and handover records.
Can several people use one node?
Yes, if the selected hardware and setup are sized for shared use. Smaller devices are best for one user; larger devices are better for teams and heavier queues.
Can it help with software coding?
Yes. Coding assistance can be selected in the configurator so the setup includes the right local model and tooling expectations.
Can it review documents and draft emails?
Yes. These are core local AI workloads. The strongest results come when the device is configured for document retrieval and the customer provides the right context.
Is it as capable as the best cloud models?
Not always. Local models can be very useful, private and fast, but frontier cloud systems may still lead on the hardest reasoning, multimodal and agentic tasks.
What exactly do you install?
selbsai installs the local runtime, selected model stack, local interface and workload tooling needed for the chosen configuration. We do not install undisclosed remote access or hidden cloud AI dependency.
How are model updates handled?
The configurator lets you choose a stable, balanced or faster update posture. Updates should be deliberate because model changes can affect quality, speed and compatibility.
How long does provisioning take?
Timing depends on hardware availability, preload volume and QA. The customer portal shows the order state from payment through provisioning, testing, shipment and delivery.
What if something goes wrong after delivery?
The customer portal, human support path, and onboarding guidance are part of the product experience. This is meant to behave like a system, not a science project.