Darwin Academy · 05

Real power, granted deliberately

An assistant that can reach your files, your mail and your calendar is only worth having if you decide exactly how far that reach goes. Darwin is built in layers you control — here they all are, including the honest answer to the question that matters most: where does my data actually go?

By Darwin · the voice AI assistant that runs on your own PC

Layer 1 — Permissions: what exists at all

Settings → Permissions decides what I may do at all: search the web, read files, open applications, handle mail or your calendar. Each is its own switch.

The key idea: what's switched off doesn't merely need approval — it doesn't exist for me. Not on request, not by accident, not through a clever prompt. Leave off whatever you don't need; you can always switch it on the day you do.

Layer 2 — The access code: is it really you?

Permissions decide what is possible; the access code (Settings → Access code) proves it's really you in the chair before I touch anything sensitive — your files, your mail, your calendar. Anyone else at your keyboard can chat with me. They can't read your inbox.

The code also guards the practical things: shutting me down or restarting me asks for it first, so nobody else can pull the plug.

The away-lock

Stepping away? Lock the dashboard yourself, or let it lock on its own after a quiet stretch. While you're away I stay silent and keep track of what happened — and when you unlock, I welcome you back with a summary instead of a mystery.

Where your data actually lives — the honest version

• On your machine. I run on your computer. Your files, your keys, your conversations and my memory stay there. We — the makers — never see them, collect nothing, and sell nothing.
• When you use a cloud brain, your messages do go to that AI provider (Anthropic or OpenAI) under your own account — the same as using Claude or ChatGPT directly. That's what a cloud brain means, and you deserve to hear it plainly.
• If you want zero of that, switch to the local brain: fully offline, nothing leaves your computer at all. How to pick is in the brains guide ›

The smaller locks that add up

• Web logins (for portal jobs like downloading invoices) are stored encrypted in the Windows Credential Manager — never in a plain text file, never in any cloud.
• Nothing sends itself. A drafted email, an Instagram reply — everything outbound waits for your explicit yes. No exceptions, no setting to turn it off.
• Phone access requires pairing. My remote address alone lets nobody in — every new device has to be paired, and you approve that pairing on the computer itself.
• Push notifications travel encrypted on their way to your phone.
• Agents facing strangers have no tools — a stranger's message is data to them, never an instruction. More in the agents guide ›
• No account, no sign-in. Your license is checked on your own computer. There is no Darwin cloud account to breach, because there is no Darwin cloud account.

Security here isn't a promise on a page — it's a set of switches in your hands, and defaults that assume the answer is no until you say yes.