--- title: AI knowledge management date: 2026-05-22T07:54:00+02:00 author: Hannes Heckel canonical_url: "https://www.fast-lta.de//en/solutions/ai-knowledge-management" section: Topic Pages --- Silent AI • Making use of internal knowledge • Made in Europe # Local AI knowledge management, which respects your permissions and never shares your data with cloud providers. Silent AI makes corporate knowledge usable without prompts, documents or responses ever leaving the network. Existing IdP and application permissions are fully enforced: no one receives an AI response based on content they do not have permission to view. ![A bright isometric office interior 202605221826 | FAST LTA](https://fast-lta.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/A_bright_isometric_office_interior_202605221826.jpeg?w=960&q=80&auto=format%2Cavif&fit=crop&dm=1779467190&s=02920dd4d075c42aab7d1bd819d1db58) Made in EuropeZero Cloud by DesignRights fully respectedInterchangeable LLMsCARE SLA for up to 10 years consider advanced AI to be of strategic importance 25%Companies with 20 or more employees report the use of shadow AI Over 2/3of the AI deployment runs via US hyperscalers --- The Problem ## Shadow AI is already a threat. And cloud AI isn't suitable for every dataset. Generative AI has spread more quickly within German companies than rules, guidelines and approval processes. 25% of companies with 20 or more employees report active use of private AI tools in their day-to-day work — and the trend is rising (Bitkom AI Study 2025). At the same time, US hyperscalers dominate the market: Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini together account for over two-thirds of the AI tools used by businesses. For non-critical tasks such as translations, summaries, and image and video editing, this is often not a problem. For sensitive data, it is. **What specifically concerns compliance and IT managers:** ### On-Premises AI On-premises AI refers to AI systems operated entirely on an organization's own hardware in its own data center or server room — without cloud connectivity, without data transfer to external services. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/on-premises-ai) **Employees often have no alternative.** If the official IT department does not provide verified AI, staff resort to using personal accounts. Draft contracts end up in ChatGPT, patient data in Copilot, and design data in Gemini. A ban alone will not solve the problem. **Prompts and responses reveal more than a browser history.** A single query to a cloud-based AI can reveal more about ongoing projects, strategies and internal structures than months of monitoring internet traffic. The prompt provides context; the response reflects how the system has interpreted it. **AI services necessitate a new approach to access management.** Most cloud services, as well as many on-premises appliances, require that the Active Directory access management system successfully implemented within the company be set up in parallel. This is time-consuming, prone to errors and creates a second source of access rights that diverges from the actual situation. **The EU AI Act, NIS2 and the US CLOUD Act are creating a need for action.** The EU AI Act has been in force since August 2024, and NIS2 will become mandatory in Germany at the end of 2025. Under the CLOUD Act and FISA Section 702, US authorities are permitted to request data from US companies worldwide, regardless of the location of the servers. ### US CLOUD Act The US CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, 2018) authorizes US authorities to require US companies to hand over data — regardless of where that data is physically stored, including servers located in the EU. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/us-cloud-act) ### EU AI Act The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive legislative regulation of AI systems, in force since August 2024. It classifies AI applications by risk level and sets concrete requirements for transparency, control, data protection and human oversight for high-risk systems. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/eu-ai-act) ### EU AI Act The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive legislative regulation of AI systems, in force since August 2024. It classifies AI applications by risk level and sets concrete requirements for transparency, control, data protection and human oversight for high-risk systems. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/eu-ai-act) ### US CLOUD Act The US CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, 2018) authorizes US authorities to require US companies to hand over data — regardless of where that data is physically stored, including servers located in the EU. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/us-cloud-act) ### US CLOUD Act The US CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, 2018) authorizes US authorities to require US companies to hand over data — regardless of where that data is physically stored, including servers located in the EU. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/us-cloud-act) ### NIS2 The NIS2 Directive (EU 2022/2555) is an EU regulation that obliges essential and important entities to implement specific cybersecurity measures — including demonstrable backup management, crisis management and reporting obligations — with personal liability for management bodies in case of non-compliance. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/nis2) ### NIS2 The NIS2 Directive (EU 2022/2555) is an EU regulation that obliges essential and important entities to implement specific cybersecurity measures — including demonstrable backup management, crisis management and reporting obligations — with personal liability for management bodies in case of non-compliance. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/nis2) The solution ## Silent AI as a local AI appliance. Kein Cloud-Ersatz, sondern die fehlende Alternative. Silent AI does not replace cloud-based AI. For general tasks, translations, and image and video editing, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are usually the better choice. Silent AI handles what cloud-based AI is structurally unable to do: AI-powered knowledge work involving sensitive, confidential or regulated corporate data. Entirely on-premises, using existing permissions. **What Silent AI does for sensitive data:** #### **Zero Cloud by Design.** All data remains on the local appliance. No prompts, no vectors, no tokens leave the network. There is no cloud fallback that offloads data during peak loads. #### Active Directory permissions are fully enforced. Silent AI integrates with the existing Active Directory or LDAP. AI responses are based exclusively on documents to which the user making the request has read access. An incorrectly configured SharePoint site will not suddenly become a source of information for anyone who asks for it. #### RAG, not hallucination. Silent AI uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation on internal data: answers are compiled from actual documents, with source attribution. The LLM does not make up paragraphs, contract clauses or study results. ### RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) RAG is an AI architecture in which a language model does not answer from memory but retrieves answers from a defined, controlled dataset and generates responses on that basis — structurally eliminating hallucinations. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/rag-retrieval-augmented-generation) #### Predictable TCO, no token-based billing. A one-off investment in hardware and licences. No usage-based cloud costs, no unexpected price increases. CARE maintenance contracts guarantee support and updates for up to 10 years on fixed terms. #### Compliance-ready. GDPR-compliant, NIS 2-compliant, EU AI Act-compliant. No transfer of personal data to third countries. Structurally, no US Cloud Act risk. ### EU AI Act The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive legislative regulation of AI systems, in force since August 2024. It classifies AI applications by risk level and sets concrete requirements for transparency, control, data protection and human oversight for high-risk systems. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/eu-ai-act) ### GDPR The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, EU 2016/679) is the European regulation for the protection of personal data — particularly relevant for IT infrastructure in Art. 5 (principles), Art. 17 (right to erasure), Art. 28 (processors) and Art. 32 (security of processing). [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/gdpr) #### Made in Europe. Development, sales, support and manufacturing in Germany. Largely local supply chains, short lead times. ## From the data source to a definitive answer Entirely local. Entirely under your control. No cloud connection during operation. ### Source systems SMB, SharePoint,​ Confluence, Exchange,​ Nextcloud, PDF, Web pages…​ ### Connectors Incremental indexing with rights and metadata transfer. ### Vectorisation OCR, image description, semantic embedding in a vector database ### RAG engine Find relevant documents using a similarity search ### LLM (Mistral) Formulates a response based solely on the sources --- ## Silent AI. 100% local. 100% secure. 100% yours. Silent AI is a turnkey appliance designed to make data from various sources and applications searchable and usable locally, without the need for a cloud connection. Silent AI is ideal for regulated industries or users who are unable or unwilling to send data, prompts or responses to a cloud-based AI system. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/products/silent-ai "Find out more") Comparison ## Three approaches to local AI. Why only one person is standing up for small and medium-sized businesses. The options differ significantly in terms of cost, maintenance and future-proofing. Train your own LLM A language model developed entirely in-house on our own infrastructure **+** Maximum specialisation and control **–** Costs running into millions of euros **–** Requires an in-house ML team **–** Models become outdated quickly **–** Rollout: takes months or even years ###### For: Large corporations conducting AI research Managed Appliance Silent AI: ready-to-use hardware with on-device inference, professional RAG, AD integration and support **+** Deployment in days **+** Full compliance with AD permissions **+** Interchangeable LLM, no vendor lock-in **+** 15+ connectors included as standard **+** CARE maintenance for up to 10 years **–** Higher initial investment than a DIY solution **Silent AI — FAST LTA, Made in Europe** ###### RECOMMENDED FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES, PUBLIC SECTOR BODIES & REGULATED INDUSTRIES DIY with local LLMs Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp on a dedicated GPU; custom-built RAG pipeline **+** Low barrier to entry **+** Full flexibility for developers **–** No rights management out of the box **–** No SLA, no support **–** M365 integration: must be built in-house **–** High maintenance costs in production ###### For: Individual users, prototyping Regulatory framework ## Compliance: What Silent AI covers The technical basis for the key regulatory requirements in German companies. 0">RegulationRequirementSilent AIGDPR Art. 5, 25, 32No transfer without a legal basis; technical and organisational measures☑GDPR Art. 44 ff.No unjustified transfer to third countries☑EU AI ActTransparency, verifiability, risk management, AI competence (Art. 4 from February 2025)☑NIS2 / KRITISSecurity of critical IT systems, risk assessment of AI☑DORAICT risk management, third-party risks in the financial sector☑BIS-GrundschutzRequirements for secure IT systems☑US CLOUD Act / FISA 702Excluded: no US service in the operational path☑ Silent AI provides the technical foundation. Full compliance also requires organisational measures (AI policy, record of processing activities, risk analysis in accordance with the EU AI Act). FAST LTA provides support with implementation. ## In which sectors is Silent AI particularly relevant? In any situation where sensitive data must not be processed using cloud-based AI. [Finance & Insurance DORA, MaRisk and BaFin largely rule out the use of cloud-based AI for regulated data. Contract documents and claims files are accessible internally — without the need for US third-party providers. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//de/branchen/finanzdienstleister "Find out more")](https://www.fast-lta.de//de/branchen/finanzdienstleister "Find out more") [Public administration The GDPR, BSI Basic Protection and NIS2/KRITIS require data sovereignty. Government data can be searched using Silent AI — no US providers are involved in the operational workflow. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/public-sector "Find out more")](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/public-sector "Find out more") [Industry & Trade Design data and trade secrets must not be leaked via cloud prompts. PLM, ERP and maintenance documentation are indexed locally — with rights management. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/industry "Find out more")](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/industry "Find out more") [Healthcare Patient data and clinical guidelines preclude the use of cloud-based AI. Silent AI runs entirely within the hospital network, integrating AD roles and HIS/RIS structures. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/healthcare "Find out more")](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/healthcare "Find out more") [Research & Life Sciences Research data, clinical reports and IP-related documents can be searched for internally — using existing access rights, without any data leaving the organisation. [Find out more ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/research-education "Find out more")](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/verticals/research-education "Find out more") [Technical specifications **GPU:** Nvidia A6000 Pro Blackwell, 96 GB GDDR7 **LLM:** Mistral (can be swapped for Qwen, Gemma, etc.) **Connectors:** 15+ (M365, SharePoint, Confluence, etc.) **Users:** Packages with 25 / 50 / 100 named users **Maintenance:** CARE contract for 3, 5 or 10 years [Doanload data sheet ](https://fast-lta.files.svdcdn.com/production/files/en-2026-05-Silent-AI-HandOut.pdf?dm=1780640292 "Doanload data sheet")](https://fast-lta.files.svdcdn.com/production/files/en-2026-05-Silent-AI-HandOut.pdf?dm=1780640292 "Doanload data sheet") ## Frequently asked questions #### Will Silent AI replace ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot? No. For general tasks — such as translations, summaries, and image and video editing — cloud-based AI solutions are usually the better choice. Silent AI covers the areas that cloud-based AI is structurally unable to handle: AI processing of sensitive, confidential or regulated data, with full data control and strict adherence to access permissions. #### Which language model runs on Silent AI? By default, a current open-source model (currently Mistral). The model is decoupled from the data architecture and interchangeable — Qwen, Gemma and other models are available. No lock-in to a single provider. #### How many users can Silent AI support? Licences are issued in packages of 25, 50 or 100 named users. There is no fixed performance limit at the hardware level; the actual response time depends on the query profile, the chosen LLM and the configuration. The actual load is measured for the customer during the trial period. #### How long does a rollout take? A standard rollout (hardware, M365 + SharePoint + file server connectors, ID provider/IAM integration) takes a few days. More complex environments are set up in a trial phase — typically taking 2 to 4 weeks. #### Can we continue to use cloud-based AI for non-critical tasks? Yes. Silent AI is not a system of restrictions, but rather a complementary tool. It makes sense to have a clear policy: which AI is authorised for which data categories. FAST LTA provides a template for this. Next step ## You can’t solve the problem of shadow AI with bans. But with a safe alternative. Silent AI is the solution for sensitive data: local, with strict access controls, no cloud, and no CLOUD Act. Talk to our engineers about your data assets and the right connectors. ### US CLOUD Act The US CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, 2018) authorizes US authorities to require US companies to hand over data — regardless of where that data is physically stored, including servers located in the EU. [Mehr erfahren →](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/glossary/us-cloud-act) [Request a demo ](https://www.fast-lta.de//en/fast/contact/ai "Request a demo")[Download hand-out ](https://fast-lta.files.svdcdn.com/production/files/en-2026-05-Silent-AI-HandOut.pdf?dm=1780640292 "Download hand-out") ![Neuer Chat Hey John | FAST LTA](https://fast-lta.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Neuer-Chat-_-Hey-John.jpg?w=960&q=80&auto=format%2Cavif&fit=crop&dm=1779782013&s=e33748b1cee5d5f7f854aaa7213f57fb)