Models & Auto-Selector
Choosing a specific model or letting Auto pick one, the groups the model picker presents, why you might choose Emerge.ai's own hosted models, and the models you can download for offline use on mobile.
What you'll do
Every chat runs on a model, and you decide which one. You will open the model picker, either leave Auto selected or choose a specific model, and know what to do when a model you expect is not available.
Step-by-step
- Open a chat and open the model picker from the chat input. It shows the model currently in use.
- Check that AI has not been switched off for this chat — the control is in the picker.
- Leave Auto selected, or choose a specific model from one of the groups.
- Type your message and send it.
Auto, or a specific model
Auto is the default selection. Leave it on and Emerge.ai picks a model for each request, so you get a good fit without thinking about it.
Choose a specific model when you want every message in a chat answered by the same one. Both are choices you make in the picker — Auto is an option you select, not something that happens invisibly.
The groups in the picker
The picker organizes models into named groups — the outside providers by name, plus Emerge.ai's own. As of the last check, that means:
- Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI — the outside providers, by name
- Emerge Private Hosted — models Emerge.ai hosts itself
- Emerge Fast & Free — the free model chat continues on at a usage limit
For the models in each group, see Model selector.
Emerge.ai changes what is in the picker over time. The groups are stable; the models named above are current examples. The picker in the product is the live source, so check there.
Emerge Private Hosted
Emerge.ai hosts these models itself, so your request stays with Emerge.ai instead of going to an outside provider.
That is also why the group matters for privacy. With Lockdown Mode on, chat runs only on Emerge.ai's private models — which set exactly is configuration Emerge.ai changes over time, so check the picker to see what you can use.
Emerge Fast & Free
The model in the Emerge Fast & Free group is Qwen 3.5-9b as of the last check, and on plans that include the group, reaching a usage limit does not stop your work: at your cap, chat keeps going on this model and Emerge.ai tells you it has switched.
See Plans, Tokens & Billing for how the daily and weekly limits are measured and what else you can do when you reach one.
When a model isn't available
Four different things produce this, and they look different in the picker:
- It isn't included in your plan. It still appears in the picker, marked unavailable with a note saying it is not on your current plan. Choose another model, or upgrade.
- It's temporarily unavailable. Choose another model, or try again later.
- An administrator has hidden it for the whole Cloud. Administrators can hide specific models from Cloud Settings → AI Models, whatever the plan allows. A model hidden this way disappears from the picker entirely for everyone in that Cloud, so it is missing rather than marked unavailable.
- Lockdown Mode is on. Only the models Emerge.ai allows under Lockdown Mode can be used, and Auto is unavailable — the option leaves the picker, and a chat set to Auto moves to a specific allowed model.
Downloadable models on mobile
On the mobile apps you can download a model to the device and run it there. Chat then works fully offline — on a plane, or anywhere without a connection — and there is no limit on how much you use a downloaded model.
Which models can be downloaded is shown in the app itself — that list is the live one, and it changes.
See Platform & Apps for what else the mobile apps add.
Definitions
- Auto — the default model-picker option, which lets Emerge.ai choose a model for each request instead of you fixing one for the whole chat.
- Emerge Private Hosted — a picker group of models Emerge.ai hosts itself, offering capability comparable to the frontier models.
- Emerge Fast & Free — a picker group holding the free model that chat continues on once you reach a usage limit.
- Local model — a model downloaded to a mobile device and run on it, so chat works with no connection.
- Lockdown Mode — a setting that limits which models can be used and makes Auto unavailable.
Related topics
- Model selector — the models in each group, and when the list was last checked against the product
- Your first chat — opening the picker and sending a first message
- Plans, Tokens & Billing — usage limits, and the two ways forward at a cap
- Lockdown Mode — which models remain usable, and why Auto is not one of them
- Platform & Apps overview — web, mobile, and offline use
- Troubleshooting
Custom MCP
Pointing Emerge.ai at a remote MCP server so it appears as a connector alongside the built-in ones, what the panel needs, and what stays your responsibility once it is connected.
Model selector
The models in each group of the model picker as last checked against the product, with the picker itself named as the live source because Emerge.ai reconfigures the list over time.
