There are all sorts of reasons why you may need to run the Large Language Model (LLM), such as ChatGPT’s gpt-oss locally on your Windows PC or Mac. Notably, it can let you use an AI language model offline without relying on constant internet access.
Whether you’re an enthusiast of LLMs, AI tools, and ChatGPT, or just beginning to explore this space, setting up a local instance of gpt-oss can be an exciting way to experiment.
Moreover, if you’re a ChatGPT user who isn’t particularly happy with GPT-5 and would prefer the experience of GPT-4, installing gpt-oss on your Mac offers a practical alternative to revisit that model. Having said that, let me show you how it’s done the right way:
Run gpt-oss ” ChatGPT” Locally & Offline on Windows PC & Mac
In this guide, I’m going to use a pretty neat app called, “LM Studio”. Fret not! This third-party tool is secure, available for free and works like a charm. So, you shouldn’t bother about spending any money or endangering your sensitive information.
- To get started, you need to download LM Studio app on your PC or Mac.
- Once the download is done, open LM Studio and select the “Power User” option.
- Now, select gpt-oss and choose “Download gpt-oss” to kickstart the process of downloading the important files.
- When the files have download successfully, select “Start a New Chat” to proceed.
- Next, click in the titlebar at the top of the screen.
- Next up, choose “openai/gpt-oss” as the preferred model.
- After the gpt-oss-20b loaded up, you can start using the gpt-oss. Yeah, you got that right! It’s pretty much the way you use any chatbot/ChatGPT or LLM on your device.
Now, go ahead to get the most out of your personal offline GPT! Just like any advanced chatbot or language model, it can answer questions, solve math problems, generate reports, write code, analyze data, and handle a wide range of tasks you’d expect from a modern AI assistant.
Since gpt-oss runs completely offline, it won’t fetch updates or access new online information. However, it already comes with a massive dataset to deliver strong performance, even in the 20B version.
For those who want even greater capability and don’t mind slower performance on most consumer Macs, the 120B version is also available—provided you have enough disk space to support it.
