Product · November 9, 2026

What your computer needs to run AI locally

By PWA Team

Private Writing Assistant

Check grammar and rewrite text with AI that runs on your device. Free.

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The extension is installed, the welcome page is open, and the AI model is still downloading. Twenty minutes later, it still is. Nothing is broken: a language model is a large file, and your computer has to store it, hold it in memory and run it.

Why local AI has requirements at all

A cloud AI service runs on the company's computers, so yours only needs a browser. On-device AI runs on your own computer, so the model has to fit in your memory, be stored on your disk, and be computed by your processor or graphics card.

Models built for laptops are much smaller than those in data centers, but they still take a few gigabytes. That is where each requirement comes from.

What each requirement is for

• Memory. While the model is working, it has to be loaded into memory. Chrome uses the graphics card if it has more than 4 GB of its own memory, and otherwise the main memory, which then needs 16 GB and a processor with four or more cores.
• Disk space. Chrome wants 22 GB free. The model itself is a few gigabytes; the rest is room Chrome keeps so that your disk doesn't fill up. If space runs low later, Chrome may remove the model again.
• Operating system and browser. Chrome 138 or newer on Windows 10 or 11, macOS 13 or newer, Linux, or a Chromebook Plus. Phones and tablets can't run it, because Chrome on Android and iOS has no extensions.
• Internet, once. The model is downloaded on first use over an unmetered connection. After that, it works offline.

How to check your computer

1. Open chrome://settings/help to see your Chrome version and update it if needed.
2. Check your free disk space in your system's storage settings.
3. Look up your graphics card's memory and your RAM in your system information. On most laptops from the last few years, one of the two is enough.
4. For the final word, open chrome://on-device-internals. It shows whether Chrome can run its model, and why not if it can't.

Will it run on my computer? lists the same steps with every requirement in one table.

What the first use looks like

Chrome doesn't include the model when you install it. The first time a feature needs it, Chrome downloads it in the background. That takes a while, depending on your connection, and you can keep browsing meanwhile.

In Private Writing Assistant, the welcome page checks your Chrome version, shows whether the model is ready, downloading or unavailable, and has a button to start the download. Checking starts by itself when it's done.

If it says “unavailable”

That means Chrome has decided this computer or profile can't run the model yet. Try updating Chrome, turning on On-device AI in Chrome's settings, and relaunching Chrome; the extension's menu shows these steps. If none of them helps, the computer most likely falls short of one of the requirements above. It's Chrome's decision, not the extension's, so every tool built on Chrome Built-in AI gets the same answer.

Is it worth it?

Once the model is on your computer, you get AI that works offline, has no usage limits and never sends your text to a server. Our post What does “on-device AI” actually mean? covers that trade in more detail.