AI Glossary
What is On-device AI?
Overview
On-device AI runs models directly on phones, PCs, robots, cars, or edge hardware instead of sending every request to a cloud service. It matters because local inference can reduce latency, improve privacy, lower serving costs, and make AI features work in constrained or offline environments.
Why it matters
On-device AI changes the product tradeoff between privacy, latency, cost, battery life, and model capability.
Where it appears in AI research
- Mobile and PC AI feature launches
- Edge inference hardware updates
- Privacy-preserving assistant designs
- Robotics and automotive deployments