Does an AI database helper send my customer records to the cloud?

Not unless you choose to. In Base by Zaweba, the AI helper sends your database's design to the AI provider, not its records. Customer names, addresses and orders stay in your .obase file on your PC. Records only go if you tick Include sample rows, which sends the first three of each table and starts off every time. And the helper does nothing at all until you connect an AI account yourself.

Off until you turn it on

Base has no AI built in and no account of its own. The AI menu and the Ask AI panel are greyed out until you connect an account from a provider you choose. If you never connect one, nothing is ever sent, and every other part of the app works as normal.

Even with an account connected, nothing goes until you ask something: a question about your data, a query to explain or fix, a table to design, rules to suggest, a script to write or sample data to make.

What the design includes

When you do ask, Base sends the database design: the names of tables and fields, their types, rules and relationships, and the names of your queries, forms and scripts. It also sends whatever you have open and are asking about, such as the query, the script or the table.

That is enough for the AI to write a sensible query or suggest a rule, because it knows a Customers table has a Postcode field and that Orders look up Customers. It doesn't need Mrs Smith's postcode to do that.

Bear in mind that names can say something. A table called Disciplinary cases tells a reader more than one called Records. If the design itself is sensitive, think about that before asking.

Include sample rows

Sometimes examples help the AI, for instance when a field's contents aren't obvious from its name. Include sample rows sends the first three records of each table along with the design. It starts unticked every time, so it can't be left on by accident from yesterday.

If your tables hold personal data, leave it off, or try it on a copy of the database filled with made-up records.

Keeping it on your PC entirely

You can connect a local model, such as Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp, which runs on your own computer. Then even the design never leaves the PC. Local models need a reasonably capable machine and may be slower or less able than the big online services, but for privacy they are the strongest choice.

There's also a copy and paste route through a chat website, where you see exactly what is being passed across because you are the one passing it.

Guards on what comes back

Privacy is one half; safety is the other. SQL suggested by the AI goes through a guard. One SELECT runs read-only. One INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE needs a red confirmation, and anything else is refused. Changes are previewed, and AI > Undo reverses them for the session. Your AI account keys are encrypted with Windows DPAPI.

For a small business or charity keeping personal data, that combination makes the AI helper in Base by Zaweba something you can use without handing your customer list to anyone.