Learn AI · Privacy

Your data stays yours, even with AI.

One of the biggest reasons people hesitate to adopt AI is privacy. Here is how local-first, zero-retention design changes the calculation.

The privacy terms, decoded

Term	What it means
Local-first	Your files, vault and sessions stay on your machine; nothing is uploaded just to exist.
Zero data retention	The gateway treats each request as ephemeral — nothing is stored after the answer.
Air-gapped	Fully offline mode using a local model; no network access at all.
No API keys to paste	Auth is server-side, tied to your ssv.asia account — nothing to leak in config files.

Why this matters for real work

NDAs and client data — regulated industries (legal, healthcare, finance, defense) often cannot send documents to cloud APIs. Local-first is the answer.
Researchers — unpublished work stays unpublished until you choose to share it.
Air-gapped environments — the /offline workflow configures 100% offline use with a local model.
Portability — the Expert AI Terminal Pro (separate desktop product) carries the whole installation on a USB; unplug it and nothing remains on the machine.

Honest caveat: "local-first" does not mean "never touches the internet". When you run online models, requests go to the model provider. The design minimizes exposure; it does not eliminate it for online routes. Use the air-gapped mode for truly sensitive work.

Data sovereignty in practice

The s sv.asia tokens page spells out the operating model:

Your data is stored locally by default. ssv.asia does not upload proprietary project data to public clouds.
Train custom models on proprietary data. Subscribers can fine-tune on their own information without sending it off-machine — full data sovereignty.
Zero data retention. No provider API keys live on your machine.
Air-gapped assembly. The whole system runs as a local-first workspace inside your own shell.

Who this is built for: researchers under NDA, regulated industries, and anyone who cannot afford a data leak. As ssv.asia puts it: "sovereign data hosting for rigorous domain expertise."

Good privacy habits

Use air-gapped mode for anything under NDA.
Check expert-ai status to see which route is active.
Keep your Obsidian vault indexed with /lib — local search never leaves your machine.
Prefer cited workflows (deepresearch) so you can verify what the model used.

More background in the privacy docs and the glossary.