QualiPilot – an offline AI tool for qualitative content analysis

Background The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in qualitative content analysis has increased substantially. However, most AI-assisted tools rely on proprietary cloud-based solutions, raising significant concerns regarding data protection, transparency, and reproducibility. Sensitive qualitative data such as interview transcripts require strict data sovereignty and compliance with legal and ethical standards, which existing cloud-based AI platforms cannot always guarantee. To address these challenges, this study aimed to develop and evaluate an accessible, fully offline AI tool tailored for qualitative research. Methods We developed QualiPilot, a stand-alone, privacy-compliant desktop application for AI-assisted qualitative analysis. The tool operates entirely offline, leveraging a locally deployed large language model (LLM) and requiring no installation, as it can be run directly from a USB flash drive. QualiPilot enables key steps of qualitative analysis, including initial text engagement, inductive category development, coding, and code summarization, with complete transparency of analytic parameters, system prompts, and procedural steps. Results QualiPilot performs all key analytic tasks on standard office computers without transmitting data to external servers, ensuring complete data protection and transparency. The tool produces relevant and well-structured outputs, with all steps, parameters, and prompts fully documented and exportable for reporting. The offline approach also simplifies compliance with data protection and ethical requirements. However, processing speed is slower compared to online or GPU-accelerated solutions, particularly for large datasets, and longer transcripts require manual segmentation due to model limitations. Despite these constraints, no instability or data loss is observed, and the tool proves practical for most typical qualitative projects. Conclusions QualiPilot provides a novel, privacy-compliant, and fully offline solution for AI-assisted qualitative content analysis. By enabling transparent, reproducible, and secure analytic workflows on standard hardware, the tool lowers barriers for researchers working with sensitive data. While not a replacement for manual analysis, QualiPilot offers valuable supplementary perspectives and supports rigorous, transparent qualitative research without dependence on commercial cloud services.