For a simple test that it is running offline, unplug your internet before chatting (after downloading the model). However if trust is a big concern, you might want to go with something popular and open source so you know third party devs have an eye on the code, which afaik LM Studio is not open source since there isn’t much code on their github.
How does a non programmer know whether to trust that offerings like LM studio are truly offline and can be trusted?
For a simple test that it is running offline, unplug your internet before chatting (after downloading the model). However if trust is a big concern, you might want to go with something popular and open source so you know third party devs have an eye on the code, which afaik LM Studio is not open source since there isn’t much code on their github.