Moxie Marlinspike Launches Privacy-Conscious Alternative to ChatGPT

City: A lot of people worry about their privacy these days. The rise of AI personal assistants, like ChatGPT, can feel scary. These tools often need personal info, and companies might keep it. OpenAI is even testing ads, which could mean more data collection like Facebook and Google.

Moxie Marlinspike, who helped create Signal, wants to change that. In December, he launched a new project called Confer. This service looks and feels like ChatGPT or Claude but is designed to keep your conversations private. The best part is that your chats cannot be used to train the AI or show ads. The company never sees them.

Marlinspike believes these protections are important because this tech can feel very personal. He said, “Chat interfaces know more about people than any other technology before.” He worries that when you add ads, it feels like a therapist is trying to sell you something.

Confer has different systems to keep your chats safe. First, it uses encryption for messages going in and out. The service works best on mobile devices or Apple computers, but you can use it on other systems too. On the servers, Confer processes info in a secure area to keep it from being hacked. Many foundation models help handle user questions safely.

Because of this setup, users can have private talks with the AI without worrying about leaks. Confer offers a free version that allows for 20 messages a day and five chat sessions. If you want unlimited access, you can pay $35 each month. This costs a little more than ChatGPT’s Plus plan, but privacy often comes at a price.