Dear Reader,

With more countries blocking access to DeepSeek, an AI model linked to ByteDance, the conversation around AI privacy is heating up. As AI tools become an integral part of our workflows, it’s worth asking: How much control do we really have over our data?

Most AI tools—ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini—process your inputs on cloud servers, meaning they handle your data externally. While these companies have varying policies on storage and model training, the fact remains: your data leaves your device.

For solopreneurs, consultants, and anyone handling proprietary information, this raises an important question: Should we be relying on AI models we don’t control?

There’s a growing movement toward local AI models—ones that run directly on your computer, keeping your data private. One of the best options available today is LM Studio (Tool of the Week, details below).

A Real-World Example: Handling Confidential Meeting Notes

Imagine you have sensitive meeting notes—perhaps from a client meeting, a legal discussion, or an internal strategy session. You’d like to use an AI tool to summarize the content or extract insights, but uploading it to a cloud-based AI (like ChatGPT or Claude) would expose confidential names, company details, and other sensitive data.

With LM Studio, you can use a local AI model—such as Llama 3—to anonymize the document before sending it to the cloud. Here’s how it works:

✅ Step 1: Load a model like Llama 3 in LM Studio on your computer.

✅ Step 2: Run a prompt to replace company names, redact personal identifiers, and anonymize details.

✅ Step 3: Once anonymized, the document can be safely processed by cloud AI without exposing sensitive data.

I've whipped up a small demo to walk you through how to do just that.

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This is a practical, easy way to stay compliant with privacy regulations while still leveraging powerful AI tools. And it's a great way to discover LLMs that are geared towards different things.

If you have a go with LM Studio, I'd love to hear your feedback!

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🛠️ Tool of the Week: Obsidian – A Powerful Free Note-Taking App If you’re looking for a flexible, offline-first note-taking tool that keeps your thoughts organised without locking you into a specific ecosystem, Obsidian is worth checking out. Unlike other note-taking apps, Obsidian is built on plain-text Markdown files, meaning your notes are fully in your control—no forced cloud storage, no proprietary formats. But the real magic happens when you start linking your notes together. I've yet to find one app that "does everything" in terms of dashboards and second brains, but Obsidian is pretty damn close (sorry, Notion 😢), primarily because I can access it all offline and my data's not going to someone else's cloud unless I expressly want it to. Key features: ✅ Bi-directional linking – Connect ideas and build your own knowledge web ✅ Offline-first – No internet? No problem ​✅ Cross platform - sync across your computers, tablets and phones, wherever you are ✅ Markdown support – Keep your notes lightweight and future-proof ✅ Customisable with plugins – Supercharge it with themes, templates, and automation - including AI integration ✅ Free for personal use – No subscriptions needed 🚀 Best Use Case? ​Obsidian is perfect for knowledge workers, researchers, solopreneurs, and creatives who want a powerful, distraction-free way to organise their thoughts—whether it’s for brainstorming, writing, project planning, or even journaling. 💡 Pro Tip: Start small. Use daily notes + linking to create a simple second brain, then explore community plugins when you’re ready. Check out Obsidian

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Latest Writing Pages: AI Testing Challenges The Turing Test, a classic measure of artificial intelligence, has long been the gold standard for assessing machine intelligence, but as AI continues to evolve, a new challenge called "Humanity's Last Exam" has emerged to push the boundaries of what machines can truly understand and reason about. Read more

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Made with ❤️ in Valencia by Jim Christian. For feedback, please reach out to hello@jimchristian.net.

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