Persona

People considering an always-listening AI assistant worry about devices secretly recording them, their data being stored insecurely, or their conversations being sold to advertisers and data brokers. Existing voice assistants often rely on wake words and continuous listening, which raises concerns about privacy and control over personal data. Users also want a way to delete or export their data easily, rather than being locked into a platform that retains everything indefinitely. Persona's site addresses these concerns directly, suggesting its target users are privacy-conscious people interested in wearable AI.

Persona offers an AI assistant accessible via iMessage and through a wearable called Persona Band. The band only activates its microphones when the user flicks their wrist or holds a button, with no wake word and no always-on listening, plus a privacy mode to cut both mics. Data is protected with envelope encryption before storage and TLS in transit, with each record getting its own key secured by a separate master key. The company states it has undergone independent audits (SOC 2 Type I, ESOF verified), restricts production system access to a small engineering team on a least-privilege basis, and allows users to export or permanently delete their data, including specific tasks, days, or everything at once. It also states it does not sell or trade user conversations to advertisers or data brokers.