Built safe

Everything Confab writes, says, designs or draws is made by AI: the open models in its menu (Qwen, Gemma and gpt-oss) and Confab Image, which run on our own machines, or Claude from Anthropic when Confab offers it and you pick it. It can be wrong, so check anything that matters. Ask whether you're talking to a person and it tells you it's AI.

Every model in Confab is told to refuse, briefly and kindly: anything sexual involving children; sexually explicit content; help to seriously hurt people, such as weapons that can cause mass harm, malware or attacks; help with suicide or self-harm; and content that harasses or demeans people for who they are. Claude also follows Anthropic's own safety rules.

On top of that, every question goes through fixed rules before any model sees it, and every answer goes through them as it is written, whichever model writes it. They stop anything sexual involving children: a question that breaks them never reaches the model, and an answer that breaks them is stopped and removed. Refusals are logged with a short excerpt of the question, never the answer, so our team can spot misuse.

Pictures are held to a stricter line: no sexual content or nudity, no graphic violence, no hateful imagery, no self-harm, and nothing that puts a real person in an intimate situation. They are checked three ways:

• the request goes through fixed rules and then an AI classifier with a strict policy;
• any picture you give Confab to work from is checked before it is used;
• every picture Confab makes is checked for nudity before anyone sees it.

If a check can't run, no picture is made. After three refused requests in a day, or one involving a child, picture making pauses for a day, and chat carries on. If you think a check got it wrong, email [email protected] and a person will look.

Your computer. Confab uses your computer only when you turn on Computer in a chat. An orange frame and a Stop button show while it works, and Esc stops it at once. It sees your screen through pictures and the apps' buttons and fields, and uses your mouse and keyboard. It never touches sign-in, password, security or terminal windows. Sign-in, password and security windows, and Confab's own, are blanked out of its pictures. Only you can see the pictures, and deleting the chat deletes them.

Your files. In a folder you share, Confab's file tools only reach inside that folder, and every change comes to you as a card you can open and review. In a shared chat, changes someone else asks for wait for the owner's OK before they reach the owner's folder.

Its browser. Confab's browser runs inside the app on your computer, with its sign-ins kept apart from your other browsers. It never types into password or card fields, so you fill those in yourself, and it doesn't download files. You can use the browser yourself at any time.

Ask first or Full access. With Ask first, the default, Confab asks before every command, before it uses a site for the first time, and before it presses anything that sends, saves, deletes or pays. With Full access it stops asking until you close the app or switch back, except before it pays for anything or runs a command that could wipe data. These asks are built into the app, so the AI can't skip them.

Your servers. To work on a server, Confab makes a key just for it. You add the public half to the server yourself, and Confab never asks for your password. The server's identity is pinned the first time, so a swapped server is refused. Looking around doesn't ask. Changes ask first, unless you let Confab run them on that server, and anything that could wipe data or lock you out always asks. Addresses on private networks are off limits.

From your phone. Confab can use one of your computers from your phone only if you switched that on in the computer's settings, and anything that sends, saves or deletes asks you on your phone first.

Web pages, emails and files can hide instructions meant to take over an AI. Confab treats everything it reads as information, never as orders, and its safety rules and the app's asks apply whatever it reads. No defence is perfect, so give Confab only the access a task needs, use Ask first for anything sensitive, and keep an eye on what it does.

• Passwords are stored only as strong hashes; we never see them.
• Two-factor authentication with any authenticator app, with backup codes, in Settings › My account.
• Sign in by QR code only ever hands a session to the device showing the code, and only after you approve it on a device that is already yours.
• Sessions rotate every time they refresh, and if one leaks, every session that came from it is signed out together.
• API keys are shown once, and we keep only a fingerprint of each.

We don't sell your data, show you ads, or train AI on your chats, files, pictures or designs. The open models, Confab Image, spoken answers and the model that reads pictures of your screen run on our own machines. If you pick Claude, the words of that chat go to Anthropic to be answered; pictures of your screen never do. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Confab is for people 13 and over, and under 18s need a parent or guardian's OK. Claude is for 18 and over. For everyone, Confab refuses sexually explicit content and help with self-harm, and pictures are held to the strict line above. If you think a child under 13 is using Confab, tell us and we'll close the account.

Confab isn't a crisis service. If you or someone else is in danger, call 999 or your local emergency number. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans answer any time, free, on 116 123. If you're under 19 in the UK, Childline is free on 0800 1111. If you tell Confab you're struggling, it answers with care and points you to help like this.

Email [email protected] with what happened, where (a link or the chat's name) and when. A person on our team reads every report and tells you what we did. We remove illegal content quickly and report child sexual abuse to the police or the National Crime Agency. If you disagree with a decision we made, reply and a person will look at it again; the Terms explain how complaints and appeals work. If someone is in immediate danger, call the emergency services first.

Found a way round Confab's protections, or into other people's data? Email [email protected] with the details before telling anyone else, and don't look at other people's data or disrupt Confab while you check. We'll reply and fix it.