ChatDNP

Important

This AI chatbot service is currently free and in beta / demo mode. In the future, it will be a paid service. Your chat prompts will be used for our internal research to improve the DNP’s offerings. We do not use or analyze any scientific data you share.

ChatDNP is the Douglas Neuroinformatics Platform’s (DNP) local AI chat service, powered by Open WebUI and accessible on our on-premise GPU server. It is equipped with:

  • 2 × NVIDIA RTX A6000 (each with 48 GB VRAM)

  • 500 GB system RAM

  • Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6526Y (32 cores / 54 threads)

  • 2 NUMA nodes

Why have a local (Institution) chat?

  • Privacy: Keeps sensitive discussion inside the institutional boundary. Ability to include anonymized participant info and files in chats.

  • Performance: Dedicated GPUs for low-latency responses.

  • Control: Model selection, updates, and administration are managed by DNP.

Who can use it

  • Anyone on the Douglas Research Centre internal network.

  • External access is not available.

How to sign in

  1. Navigate to chatDNP: https://chatdnp.douglas.rtss.qc.ca

  2. Accept the privacy warning of the site not being secure (we use self-signed certs not open to the web)

  3. Read the disclaimer and accept our terms of use.

Privacy & Data Use

Your chat prompts and responses are recorded so we can improve the platform. Please do not paste credentials, tokens, or personal passwords. Some important things to consider:

  • Recorded: We store chat prompts for usage analytics for quality, security, and capacity planning.

  • No History: We use temporary guest accounts, meaning your chat history is not saved. Once you leave this page, your previous conversations will be gone.

  • Research data: We do not use or analyze your scientific datasets. You may discuss patient-sensitive or confidential topics because the service runs entirely inside the Douglas network.

  • Future billing: The service is free in beta, and will become paid later.

  • API access: Disabled by default, it is only available to authorized projects.

  • Private chat account: Should you require your own private chat (with history), please contact us detailing the specifics.

Open WebUI Quick Start Usage

  1. Start a new chat by clicking the New chat button (top left pane).

  2. Select a model from the drop-down list (top centre of the chat window).

  3. Ask one thing at a time using short, specific prompts.

  4. Provide context for the chat by describing your task or attaching files.

  5. Toggle the web search integration on/off depending on if your model needs it.

  6. Iterate. If the answer isn’t right, ask it to try again (e.g. “Simplify and summarize it in 100 words”). Alt text

For a deeper look into all of Open WebUI’s features, consult their docs: https://docs.openwebui.com