Features

Staying in control

What waits for your yes, what it will not do, and how to undo or stop it.

On this page

Choose what your agent can do
What your agent will never do
The crisis floor

Choose what your agent can do#

Switches decide what your agent offers, such as setting reminders or reading the web; turn one off and each message costs a little less.

On your computer
Since 0.3.0

Where it is: On the agent's Setup tab, under What it can do, in Jobs it does for you and Changes it can make to itself.
How to use it: Open your agent's Setup tab and choose What it can do.
Turn off any switch you do not want.
Limits: Turning a switch off does not remove an add-on. Remove add-ons on the Skills tab.
Each row says where the job still gets done with the switch off.
Ask for something that is switched off and your agent names the screen that turns it back on.
The saving is small and has not been measured.

What your agent will never do#

Your agent is awake only when you write, a routine's time comes, or it checks a mailbox you connected. It cannot run a command or text anyone.

On your computer
From your phone
Since 0.1.3

Where it is: The guide What your agent will never do, linked from the first screen of the first run.
From your phone: Archie Mobile shows the Python program under an answer, as Archie does. A chat app gets the answer without it.
Limits: Each limit is on what it does. None of them makes the AI right, and a wrong draft you send is the realistic harm.
It can still search the web, read pages and, with Computer control on, use a browser.
Specialists you install can take a job from your agent, but cannot hand it on or start anything themselves.
On a Mac its only code is a short Python program it runs inside Archie with no internet. Archie on Windows does not run it yet.
Guide: What your agent will never do

The crisis floor#

If you tell your agent you are thinking about hurting yourself, or someone is putting you in danger, it steps out of character and names where to get help.

On your computer
From your phone
Since 0.1.3

From your phone: It applies wherever you talk to your agent, including Archie Mobile and chat apps.
Limits: In the US it names 988, to call or text. Elsewhere it names your local crisis line, your emergency number, or your doctor.
Nobody at Otian AI sees the conversation, and nothing is reported.
It is a language model reading text, so it can miss someone who does not say it plainly.
It offers no counseling. It stops, says it cannot be the one to help, and names who can.