Nextcloud is an open-source platform that allows you to host your own cloud storage solution. You can install an AI assistant on Nextcloud to make your experience even more efficient.
With an AI assistant on Nextcloud, you can automate tasks and streamline your workflow. For example, you can use the AI assistant to automatically sort and categorize your files.
One of the key benefits of using an AI assistant on Nextcloud is that it can help you find specific files and documents quickly. According to Nextcloud's documentation, the AI assistant can index your files and allow you to search for them using natural language queries.
By integrating an AI assistant with Nextcloud, you can also use voice commands to interact with your files and apps. This can be especially useful for tasks that require multiple steps, such as sending an email or creating a new document.
Language and Chat Features
Nextcloud's AI Assistant is a powerful tool that makes writing and communication a breeze. With the help of the AI Assistant, you can perfect your writing and text composition in Nextcloud Text.
You can get a summary of your text, generate an accurate headline, reformulate it, or translate it into another language with just a click. The AI Assistant is available right in the text, freeing you from distractions and extra tab journeys.
The AI Assistant can also be accessed through a chat interface, where you can give prompts and ask questions in a dialog format. It will remember your conversations, making interactions more natural and smooth.
You can use speech-to-text dictation to formulate text through your voice, and use your spoken words to send a message in a Nextcloud Talk chat, in an email, and through many more applications.
The AI Assistant is integrated seamlessly in Nextcloud Talk, and will make sure your discussions flow freely with the ability to translate messages, write texts, and generate media as you chat.
Smart Features
The Nextcloud AI Assistant is a game-changer for team communication, making it easier to brainstorm and plan with your team through seamless integration in Nextcloud Talk.
With the Assistant, you can translate messages, write texts, and generate media as you chat, and it can even communicate with you in a human-like way by answering questions and providing helpful suggestions.
You can ask the Assistant to outline an event preparation plan or draft a marketing campaign for you using real inputs from your tasks, making it a valuable tool for productivity.
Nextcloud Mail also features a Smart Inbox that uses Machine Learning to classify the importance of incoming emails based on your historical data and pattern recognition, giving you a priority inbox with your most important messages at the top.
This feature is already integrated by default, but you can disable it at any time if you prefer.
The Recognize app in Nextcloud Photos can quickly find people, places, or objects in your media collection, adding fitting tags that automatically categorize your photos and even music.
Smart Talk
Smart Talk lets you brainstorm and plan with your team seamlessly. Nextcloud Assistant is integrated into Nextcloud Talk, making conversations flow freely with translation, text writing, and media generation capabilities.
You can use the Smart Picker feature by typing "/" to access these features. The Assistant can also communicate with you in a human-like way by answering questions and providing helpful suggestions.
The Assistant can help with tasks like outlining an event preparation plan or drafting a marketing campaign using real inputs from your tasks. This feature is designed to make your work conversations more efficient and productive.
Face and Object Recognition
Face and Object Recognition is a powerful feature in Nextcloud Photos that lets you quickly find people, places, or objects in your media collection.
The Recognize app uses artificial neural networks to recognize patterns and add fitting tags that automatically categorize your photos and even music.
This app is incredibly easy to set up and works really well, even for the first recognition, although it may take a long time.
The tags feature is surprisingly useful and can create tags you didn't think were possible.
Data Processing and Security
Nextcloud's AI Assistant is fully open-source and runs locally on your server, giving you complete control over your data.
This means that your data belongs to you and isn't shared with any third-party provider for performance improvement, user behavior study, or AI model training.
You can use popular services like ChatGPT and Dall-E within Nextcloud, but it's worth checking the Nextcloud Ethical AI Rating to understand how they handle your data and estimate the risks involved.
The Nextcloud AI Assistant is the first open-source AI assistant that doesn't compromise your data, offering a more secure way to get tasks done.
Nextcloud Hub and Updates
Nextcloud Hub 8 is a solid alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, especially for privacy-aware users.
The Nextcloud AI Assistant 2.0 is a game-changer, offering features like Context Chat and Context Write that can help explain data and rewrite content in a requested context or style.
Context Chat can be used to ask questions about data found in files, as well as data in Nextcloud's Mail, Calendar, Talk, and Deck features.
You can ask Context Chat questions like "When do I have my next meeting with my boss?" or "Give me a summary of the status of project X".
Context Write can be used to help create online forms and write copy explaining a new product or service.
Administrators can now use outside AI models that have not been natively integrated into Nextcloud, which is a welcome feature for organizations using Nextcloud.
The new Assistant will also help IT teams take advantage of supercharged hardware infrastructure by allowing them to run LLM and other AI operations on a separate server.
You can now use a GPU for text generation, transcription, and context chat, which can significantly speed up tasks like transcribing an hour-long audio file.
Germany Builds Digital Sovereignty for Public Sector
Germany is building digital sovereignty for its public sector, a move that's expected to accelerate bureaucratic processes. This is being done in collaboration with Nextcloud, a company that's working on a digitally sovereign AI model.
The state of Schleswig-Holstein is providing anonymized training data for the model, which will be used to create highly standardized texts and optimize search of process-specific information. Nextcloud's aim is to make the model available as Open Source.
The project's goal is to craft a large language model tailored to the specific needs of government offices. This means creating tools that can help employees work more efficiently with government documents.
Integration and Migration
Integrating an AI assistant on Nextcloud is a straightforward process, especially if you've already made the switch from ownCloud.
The migration process from ownCloud to Nextcloud is relatively smooth, thanks to resources like the quick guide that provides insights into the transition.
With Nextcloud, you can easily integrate an AI assistant to enhance your productivity and workflow.
Ask About Your Assets
You can ask Nextcloud Assistant about your own data with Context Chat.
Nextcloud Assistant gets access to data from different apps, such as Nextcloud Files, Nextcloud Collectives, and even the Analytics app.
To answer questions about your documents and assets, you can manually define the scope and even limit it to a specific folder or file for more precision.
This means you have complete control over what data Nextcloud Assistant can access and use to answer your questions.
Self-Hosted vs. Integrations
Self-hosted AI features run on your server, keeping your data private and under your control. You can install them from the Nextcloud App Store, or some may require command line commands to download AI models.
All self-hosted options are built-in, meaning no data leaves your premises.
You can also use AI features from external services like DeepL and OpenAI, but data from the app will be sent to third-party companies.
These external services are available if you explicitly enable them or install related apps.
Migrating from Owncloud
Migrating from ownCloud to Nextcloud is a straightforward process that can be completed with the right guidance. Our quick guide provides insights into the migration process, helping you make the transition smoothly.
You can discover how to make the switch from ownCloud to Nextcloud by following the steps outlined in our guide. The migration process involves several key considerations, including data transfer and configuration setup.
The good news is that Nextcloud is compatible with ownCloud files, so you don't have to worry about losing any important data. This makes the transition process much easier and less time-consuming.
To get started, you'll need to download the Nextcloud migration tool and follow the instructions provided. The tool will guide you through the process of transferring your data and setting up your new Nextcloud instance.
By following our guide, you can ensure a smooth transition from ownCloud to Nextcloud and take advantage of the many benefits that Nextcloud has to offer.
Portal and Customer Features
Nextcloud's Portal and Customer Features have come a long way since its open-source fork in 2016. The platform now offers a wide range of capabilities that rival those of Fortune 500 companies.
Nextcloud's capabilities include project collaboration, video meetings, online calendaring, and email, all with a focus on ease of use, security, and integration with other platforms. It's a game-changer for businesses looking for a private cloud solution.
With Nextcloud's AI-powered Assistant, users can summarize text or email threads, change writing to be formal or relaxed, translate chat messages, and more. This feature has been a huge hit with users, and administrators have the option to choose between several on-premises and SaaS AI engines, including ChatGPT and CoPilot.
See in Action
Here's a glimpse into what makes our portal and customer features truly shine.
Our portal is designed to be user-friendly, allowing customers to easily navigate and find the information they need. With a clean and intuitive interface, customers can quickly access their account details, payment history, and support tickets.
You can see the portal in action by logging in with a demonstration account, which is available for testing and evaluation. This allows you to experience the full range of features and functionality firsthand.
Our customer support feature is built around the idea of providing quick and effective solutions to common problems. By integrating a robust knowledge base and AI-powered chatbot, we've reduced response times by an average of 30 minutes.
Customer/Employee Portal
Nextcloud's Customer/Employee Portal has come a long way since its inception in 2016 as a file sharing platform. It now offers a wide range of capabilities, including project collaboration, video meetings, online calendaring, and email.
The platform competes with industry giants like Office 365 and Google Docs, and also offers integration features that include compatibility with competing platforms. This makes it a great option for businesses looking for a secure and user-friendly solution.
Nextcloud's AI-powered Assistant is integrated into all its capabilities, providing users with a helpful tool for tasks such as summarizing text or email threads, changing writing style, and translating chat messages. This feature is optional, and administrators can choose between several on-premises and SaaS AI engines.
The Ethical AI rating feature gives administrators and users information on the privacy and data sovereignty implications of its options, allowing them to make informed decisions about their AI usage.
Behind The Scenes
Behind the scenes, Nextcloud has made significant advancements in AI capabilities. Administrators can now utilize AI models not explicitly integrated into Nextcloud, giving them more flexibility and versatility.
For larger deployments, Nextcloud has introduced a new external app ecosystem for one-click, Docker-based deployments of LLM and other AI operations like Transcription and Context Chat on a separate server. This allows for easier management and scalability.
Transcription tasks, for example, can now be run on a GPU, significantly reducing processing time. An hour-long audio file that would take many minutes to transcribe on a CPU can now be completed in seconds on a GPU.
Sources
- https://nextcloud.com/blog/first-open-source-ai-assistant/
- https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-releases-assistant-2-0-and-pushes-ai-as-a-service/
- https://nextcloud.com/blog/ai-in-nextcloud-what-why-and-how/
- https://fossforce.com/2024/04/nextcloud-ups-ai-assistant-to-2-0-and-backports-it-to-nextcloud-hub-7/
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nextcloud-gmbh_nextcloud-ai-assistant-20-with-context-chat-activity-7206312081883553798-uFE3
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