The helper
The helper is an optional download that works quietly in the background so your AIs remember the things you tell them, recall earlier conversations, pick the right model for each question, and make sense of documents you add. It runs privately on this computer - nothing it reads leaves it, even when you chat with online models - and you can remove it any time.
Two small models
| Component | Size | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helper model | about 2.2 GB | Remembers what you tell your AIs, grades each question for routing (what kind of task, easy or hard), and makes sense of documents you add. |
| Memory & smart routing | about 67 MB | The memory model: recalls relevant past conversations and notes, and spots by meaning when a question needs the live web or is about your health. |
Both run on their own small servers on your processor, so they never compete with your chat model for graphics memory.
The offer
From the second launch, the home page offers the helper - after any NVIDIA engine offer, which comes first. It is never part of the first download: the first run is for your first model. One button downloads both files, the small one first so memory and routing wake up while the helper model is still coming down; progress survives a page change, and the offer goes away once installed or dismissed.
You can also get either component from Add-ons › Components, and remove them in Settings › Storage - see Components.
What changes without it
Your AIs answer as before. What the helper adds is off, or falls back:
- Memory. Remembering what you say rides on the model you are chatting with instead, online or offline; recalling earlier conversations and notes needs the memory model. See Memory.
- Routing. Without the memory model, the live-web and health checks by meaning cannot run: routing keeps ordinary and hard questions on your device and says so, and only a clear live-web cue ("today", "latest", "weather") goes to the search model. Without the helper model, a question's difficulty is unknown: an ordinary question goes to the Everyday online model, and there is no thinking verdict. The offline pick, and Offline Only AIs, work as before. See How routing decides.
- Documents. Making sense of documents you add rides on the chat model instead.