---
title: Private AI chat apps compared, and where do-it-yourself stops
description: The most private AI chatbot depends on who can see your chats. Venice, Maple, Tinfoil and Proton Lumo compared, and where a chat app stops for a family office.
canonical: https://privatesuperintelligence.si/blog/private-ai-chat-apps/
last-updated: 2026-10-15
---

# Private AI chat apps compared, and where do-it-yourself stops

The most private AI chatbots today are apps such as Venice, Maple, Tinfoil and Proton Lumo, which each promise that the company running them cannot read or keep your conversations. They get there in different ways: chats kept on your device, end-to-end encryption, hardware enclaves you can verify, and zero-access encrypted history. For one person asking private questions, they are a large step up from a default consumer chatbot. For a family office, the gap is elsewhere: a chat app knows nothing about the office's own email, documents and entities, and someone on your team still has to set it up, run it and decide what goes into it.

Every claim below comes from each company's own site, read on 2026-10-15.

## What each app promises

**Venice.** Venice says "your conversation history stays on your device. Venice never stores it on its servers." Venice is clear that privacy depends on the mode you pick, and it names four:

- **Anonymous:** Venice proxies your request to frontier model providers. "Your identity is obscured from the provider, but you should assume the provider is storing your content."
- **Private:** inference runs "on Venice-controlled GPUs or zero-data-retention partner infrastructure," and "no prompt or response is stored."
- **TEE:** inference runs inside a hardware-isolated enclave operated by external partners (NEAR AI Cloud and Phala Network).
- **E2EE:** "Your prompt is encrypted on your device, remains encrypted through Venice, and is only decrypted inside a verified TEE."

**Maple.** Maple describes its chats as "end-to-end encrypted" and says "Trusted Execution Environments isolate your conversations during AI processing." It states "your data isn't shared with AI companies," and asked whether conversations train AI, it answers "No, by design." Maple offers "open models you can audit" and a Maple Teams plan for companies.

**Tinfoil.** Tinfoil "runs AI models inside secure hardware enclaves," which it says "gives you the privacy of local AI with the power of cloud computing." Its strongest point is proof: "These security guarantees are cryptographically verifiable," and "your data cannot be accessed or shared, not even by Tinfoil." Beside Private Chat, it sells a Private Inference API, which it calls "open-source, and fully verifiable," and Tinfoil Containers for running any Docker image in an enclave.

**Proton Lumo.** Proton says "all conversations with Lumo are stored with zero-access encryption, so no one (not even Proton) can access them," and "we never use your data to train AI models." Its support page adds that after Lumo answers, "the data is erased," and that Lumo runs open-source models, naming Qwen 3.5, GLM 5.3 and Apertus 1.5 among them. Lumo is "built and based in Europe," complies with GDPR, publishes its code as open source, and offers Lumo for Business.

## Side by side

| | Venice | Maple | Tinfoil | Proton Lumo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Where chats are kept | On your device | End-to-end encrypted | Private Chat in enclaves | Your device, synced with zero-access encryption |
| How inference is protected | Depends on mode: proxy, Venice GPUs, TEE or E2EE | Trusted Execution Environments | Hardware enclaves, cryptographically verifiable | Data erased after the response |
| Training on your chats | Mode-dependent (Anonymous: assume the provider stores content) | "No, by design" | Data cannot be accessed, even by Tinfoil | "We never use your data to train AI models" |
| Models | Frontier providers (Anonymous) or Venice and partner GPUs | Open models | Models run inside enclaves | Open-source models |
| For teams | Not covered here | Maple Teams | API and containers for builders | Lumo for Business |

If you want one rule from this table: ask which mode or model you are on. Venice's Anonymous mode and its E2EE mode carry very different promises inside the same app, and Venice says so on its own page.

For the wider difference between private and public AI, see [private AI vs public AI](/blog/private-ai-vs-public-ai/).

## What these apps do well

They make privacy the default for a person who wants to ask something without it landing in someone else's logs. Several of them let you check the claim instead of trusting it. Tinfoil publishes verification, Proton and Tinfoil publish code, and Maple and Lumo use open models you can inspect. For a principal's private questions about health, family or a deal that has not been announced, any of the four is a far better choice than pasting into a default consumer chatbot that may train on chats. The [ChatGPT guide](/blog/is-chatgpt-safe-for-confidential-information/) explains that consumer default.

## Where do-it-yourself stops for a family office

A private chat app protects what you type. A family office needs more than a safe place to type, and two gaps show up fast.

**The app doesn't know your office.** The questions that matter in a family office depend on the office's own information: "What did the trust attorney say about the distribution in March?", "Which K-1s are still outstanding?", "Who did we promise a response to this week?" A chat app starts empty each time unless you copy that context in by hand. Every paste is a judgment call by a staff member about what is safe to share, and the answer has no citation back to the source.

**Nobody sets it up or runs it for you.** With a chat app, your team does the work:

- choose the app and the privacy mode, and keep everyone on the right one
- decide which documents staff may paste, and check they follow the rule
- manage accounts as staff join and leave
- keep up with changes to each provider's terms and models
- check answers against the source, because the app cannot cite your files

Citi Institute's May 2026 report found that 57% of family offices cite lack of internal expertise as the biggest barrier to AI adoption. A tool that needs an expert to run it inherits that barrier.

| Need | Private chat app | Private AI service run for the office |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Private answers to one person's questions | Yes | Yes |
| Reads the office's email and documents | Paste by hand | Works across them, within permissions |
| Answers cite the source | Not to your files | Citations on answers |
| Acts on the office's behalf | Not described on their pages | Within permissions you set |
| Setup and upkeep | Your team | Done for you |

For a ranked view of options built for offices, see [the best AI for family offices](/blog/best-ai-for-family-offices/).

## Private SuperIntelligence for the whole office

Private SuperIntelligence from Mitosis Labs is the most capable AI, trusted with everything. It works across your office's own email, documents and data, answers with citations, and acts within permissions you set. Each deployment is built for one client and delivered in weeks, and a client deployment captures none of your data and sends no telemetry back to Mitosis Labs. [Register interest](/#waitlist) for the next intake.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the most private AI chatbot?

It depends on the mode and the model you use. Tinfoil offers cryptographically verifiable enclaves, Maple encrypts chats end to end, Venice's E2EE mode encrypts prompts on your device, and Proton Lumo stores history with zero-access encryption.

### Is Venice AI private?

Venice keeps conversation history on your device. Its privacy depends on the mode: in Anonymous mode Venice says you should assume the model provider stores your content, while its Private, TEE and E2EE modes carry stronger promises.

### Does Proton Lumo train on my chats?

Proton says it never uses your data to train AI models, and that Lumo erases the data after it processes your query.

### Can a family office use a private chat app for client work?

Staff can, for questions where they paste in only what is safe to share. The app won't read the office's email or documents, so a person has to supply the context and check the answer against the source.

### What is a private ChatGPT alternative for business?

Maple Teams, Lumo for Business and Tinfoil's API are business options from these vendors. A family office that wants AI across its own information usually needs a deployment connected to its email and documents. See [private ChatGPT for business](/blog/private-chatgpt-for-business/).


## Related reading

- [Private AI for family offices](/blog/private-ai-for-family-offices/)
- [Consolidated reporting across custodians, without the Excel export](/blog/family-office-consolidated-reporting/)
- [Tracking K-1s across 30 entities](/blog/k-1-tracking-across-entities/)
- [Capital call notices: catching every one, across every trust and LLC](/blog/capital-call-tracking/)
- [The family office technology stack](/blog/family-office-technology-stack/)
- [Family office operations, and where AI changes the staff math](/blog/family-office-operations-and-ai/)
- [What is private superintelligence?](/blog/what-is-private-superintelligence/)

## Sources

- [Privacy (Venice, accessed 2026-10-15)](https://venice.ai/privacy)
- [Maple homepage (Maple, accessed 2026-10-15)](https://maple.ai/)
- [Tinfoil homepage (Tinfoil, accessed 2026-10-15)](https://tinfoil.sh/)
- [Lumo (Proton, accessed 2026-10-15)](https://proton.me/lumo)
- [Lumo privacy (Proton Support, accessed 2026-10-15)](https://proton.me/support/lumo-privacy)
- [AI in the Family Office (Citi Institute, May 2026)](https://www.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/storage/public/ai_in_the_family_office.pdf)