Is it safe to use AI on sensitive documents like medical or legal files?

With a cloud chatbot, uploading a sensitive file sends it to a company's servers, where it may be processed, stored, or used to train future models — which is why many people rightly won't do it. With an on-device AI like Garnet, the file is read on your own computer and never travels anywhere. That makes it safe to ask plain-English questions about a medical report, a lease, or a contract, because there's no server copy to leak.

Does Garnet upload my documents to analyze them?

No. Garnet runs the AI model on your own machine, so when you drop in a document, the reading happens locally. The file does not leave your computer, isn't uploaded, and isn't sent to us or anyone else. You can confirm it by disconnecting from the internet — Garnet still reads and answers.

What kinds of documents is a private AI good for?

Exactly the ones you'd hesitate to paste into a cloud chat box: medical reports and test results, leases and contracts, legal letters, financial statements and bills, an unpublished manuscript, a private journal, or client and patient files you're responsible for. You can ask what a clause means, summarize a long report, or pull out the parts that matter — all without the document leaving your machine.

Can professionals use a private AI for confidential client or patient files?

It's a strong fit, because the information never leaves the machine it's on, which is the core of most confidentiality obligations. For individual use the free app keeps everything local. For a practice that needs an always-on system, specific safeguards, or a model tuned to its work, Garnet also builds dedicated private-AI systems on hardware you own and control.

A private AI for the documents you can't paste into a chatbot

Medical, legal, financial, personal · about a 4-minute read

The short version: there's a whole category of documents most people would never drop into a cloud chatbot — a medical report, a lease, a contract with real names in it, a private journal. That instinct is right: uploading them sends them to someone else's servers. An AI that runs on your own computer removes the reason to hesitate, because the file never travels anywhere to be read. That's exactly what Garnet is for.

The thing you already won't do

You've probably felt it: you've got a letter from a doctor, a contract, or a bill you don't fully understand, and an AI assistant would explain it in seconds — but you stop, because pasting it means handing your most private paperwork to a company's servers. So you don't. The document that most needs a clear, patient explanation is the exact one you won't show the most helpful tool you have.

That hesitation is correct. With a cloud chatbot, the file goes out — to be processed, often stored, sometimes used to train a future model. For something with your name, your health, or your finances in it, that's a real cost, and no setting fully removes it.

Why on-device changes it

Garnet runs the AI on your own computer. When you drop a document in, the reading happens right there on your machine — the way your computer opens a PDF or searches your own files. Nothing is uploaded. The file doesn't travel to us, to a cloud provider, or to anyone, because the part that does the thinking is sitting on your hard drive next to the document itself.

So the calculation flips. The reason you wouldn't paste it — "this leaves my control" — simply isn't true anymore. You can hand it the real thing, names and numbers and all, and get a real answer.

What it's genuinely good for

These are the documents people tell us they finally felt able to ask about:

Medical — a test result, a specialist's letter, a diagnosis written in language you can't parse. Ask what a term means or what questions to bring to your next appointment.
Legal — a lease, an employment contract, a letter from a lawyer, terms you're about to sign. Ask what a clause actually commits you to, in plain English.
Financial — a confusing bill, a statement, a loan or insurance document. Ask exactly what you're being charged for and what the fine print does.
Personal — a journal you think out loud in, a hard letter you're drafting, an unpublished manuscript you're not ready to show a soul.
Professional — your own notes, client or patient material you're responsible for, privileged work you can't ethically put on someone else's server.

In each case the move is the same: drop it in, ask a plain question — "what does this mean," "summarize this," "what should I worry about here" — and keep the whole exchange on your machine.

How to be sure the file stays put

You don't have to trust a promise about this. Once Garnet is running, disconnect from the internet — pull the cable or turn off Wi-Fi — and then drop your document in and ask away. It works exactly the same. If it can read your file and answer with nothing connected, then the file was never going anywhere in the first place. That's the proof, and you can run it yourself any time. Here's the precise version of what we can and can't see.

For professionals with confidential files

If your work comes with a duty of confidentiality — a clinician, a lawyer, an accountant, anyone holding other people's sensitive records — an on-device AI fits the obligation well, because the material never leaves the machine it's on. The free app already keeps everything local for individual use.

If you need more than that — an always-on system, a model tuned to your field, particular safeguards, or a setup wired into how your practice actually works — that's a dedicated build on hardware you own and control, designed by the engineer who stands behind it. The same scoping call covers anything from a guided install to a full private system.

Book a free scoping call Free, no card. You only pay if you decide to build.

Getting Garnet

The app is free and coming soon. Join the early-access list and we'll email you the download link the day it's ready — no account, your words and your documents stay on your own computer.

More: the plain-English starter guide · how setup works · Garnet vs the other local-AI tools · back to top.