Washington-based EQUS on Monday unveiled EQUS X, a personal artificial intelligence assistant paired with a private data store that the company says keeps the customer — not the AI company — in charge of personal information. The firm says nothing is read by the AI unless the user grants access file by file, and that access can be revoked at any time.
Privacy-first pitch
In its announcement, EQUS said EQUS X will be free through the end of 2026, with no advertising, no data mining, no use of personal information to train models and no resale of customer data. CEO Sandy Carter said: "Customers want a personal AI that helps without taking something from them in return."
Patents and rollout
The company says the architecture behind the service rests on 14 granted patents and nine pending ones, three of them covering the Private Data Store itself. Priority Access requests opened on October 5, ahead of general availability later this month. EQUS also said its Developer Toolkit is in an invite-only private beta.
The launch lands as AI assistants race to become more personal — a trend that has raised questions about how much of a user's files, messages and history the systems can see. EQUS is betting that making privacy the headline feature is the way to stand out. Whether users will trade convenience for strict data control remains to be seen, but the company's filing-heavy approach signals it intends to build a long-term moat around the concept.
Sources: Business Wire (company announcement)
Privacy-first pitch
In its announcement, EQUS said EQUS X will be free through the end of 2026, with no advertising, no data mining, no use of personal information to train models and no resale of customer data. CEO Sandy Carter said: "Customers want a personal AI that helps without taking something from them in return."
Patents and rollout
The company says the architecture behind the service rests on 14 granted patents and nine pending ones, three of them covering the Private Data Store itself. Priority Access requests opened on October 5, ahead of general availability later this month. EQUS also said its Developer Toolkit is in an invite-only private beta.
The launch lands as AI assistants race to become more personal — a trend that has raised questions about how much of a user's files, messages and history the systems can see. EQUS is betting that making privacy the headline feature is the way to stand out. Whether users will trade convenience for strict data control remains to be seen, but the company's filing-heavy approach signals it intends to build a long-term moat around the concept.
Sources: Business Wire (company announcement)
