The Author, Unassisted · Ownership

Free, Swiss, Private, And Still Not Yours.

Human-written. Endgate Systems

You’re going to see a wave of new “sovereign AI” tools. Free services. Privacy labels. Swiss-hosted AI, "doesn’t-train-on-your-data" labels. Some of these tools are, and will be genuinely good.

But here's the thing you need to understand as you see these tools — you are simply relocating your data from one corporations data center to another.

Labels about privacy, end-to-end encryption, and servers located in Iceland, Switzerland, or some other privacy respecting jurisdiction: does not change the fact that an external entity is holding your AI, and your AI data.

Even the greatest company on Earth holding your AI and your AI data does not change the fact that someone else is holding it. Privacy in this regard is far different from ownership.

When someone else is holding it, the ground can still change beneath you. Companies can get aqcuired, data centers can be breached, and jurisdiction can leave room for unfavorable complication.

There's an uglier version of this that we touch on in another article. It's when the labels about privacy and security are dangerously misleading. Such as calling a service "private" when it's using OpenAI or Antrhopic servers on the backend.

The best rule of thumb is this: generally speaking, if you do not see the machine in front of you, a purpose-built, dedicated machine that you have established for independent AI: there is a high chance your data is going to an external server.

With your machine, you will be able to verify firsthand if computation is occuring on your computer, and where storage data is going.