diff --git a/src/pages/BatchCatalogPanel.jsx b/src/pages/BatchCatalogPanel.jsx
index be7a89f..e2fc64f 100644
--- a/src/pages/BatchCatalogPanel.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/BatchCatalogPanel.jsx
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ export function BatchCatalogPanel({ adoptBatch = null }) {
   const [starting, setStarting] = useState(false);
   const [error, setError] = useState('');
   const [batch, setBatch] = useState(null);
-  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(false);
+  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(true);
   // Ticked by default: a batch ingested without it produces rows with no
   // images at all, and nothing downstream ever goes back to fill them in. The
   // API default stays off - an anonymous upload must not trigger network
@@ -243,7 +243,8 @@ export function BatchCatalogPanel({ adoptBatch = null }) {
             />
             <span>
               <span className="font-bold text-ink-950">Use the LLM for missing descriptions</span>
-              {' '}&mdash; no effect unless Ollama is reachable, which it is not in production.
+              {' '}&mdash; fills blank descriptions where an Ollama server is reachable. It is not
+              in production, so rows there simply keep the description the sheet gave them.
             </span>
           </label>
         </div>
diff --git a/src/pages/InboxPanel.jsx b/src/pages/InboxPanel.jsx
index ccb9665..cfac6d2 100644
--- a/src/pages/InboxPanel.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/InboxPanel.jsx
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export function InboxPanel({ onBatchStarted }) {
   const [busy, setBusy] = useState('');
   const [error, setError] = useState('');
   const [notice, setNotice] = useState('');
-  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(false);
+  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(true);
   // Ticked by default - see the same note in BatchCatalogPanel. A file
   // released from the inbox is the main way catalog rows are created, and
   // without this they arrive with no images.
@@ -220,7 +220,8 @@ export function InboxPanel({ onBatchStarted }) {
             />
             <span>
               <span className="font-bold text-ink-950">Use the LLM for missing descriptions</span>
-              {' '}&mdash; no effect unless Ollama is reachable, which it is not in production.
+              {' '}&mdash; fills blank descriptions where an Ollama server is reachable. It is not
+              in production, so rows there simply keep the description the sheet gave them.
             </span>
           </label>
         </div>
diff --git a/src/pages/OrchestrationPanel.jsx b/src/pages/OrchestrationPanel.jsx
index 5c04ea1..504f732 100644
--- a/src/pages/OrchestrationPanel.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/OrchestrationPanel.jsx
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ export function OrchestrationPanel() {
   const [busy, setBusy] = useState('');
   const [error, setError] = useState('');
   const [notice, setNotice] = useState('');
-  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(false);
+  const [useLlm, setUseLlm] = useState(true);
   const [fetchImages, setFetchImages] = useState(true);
   const batchIdRef = useRef(null);
 
@@ -297,7 +297,8 @@ export function OrchestrationPanel() {
             />
             <span>
               <span className="font-bold text-ink-950">Use the LLM for missing descriptions</span>
-              {' '}&mdash; no effect unless Ollama is reachable, which it is not in production.
+              {' '}&mdash; fills blank descriptions where an Ollama server is reachable. It is not
+              in production, so rows there simply keep the description the sheet gave them.
             </span>
           </label>
         </div>