At a Glance
- Confer, launched in December 2025 by Signal co-founder Moxie Marlinspike, offers AI chat without data collection
- Messages are encrypted via WebAuthn passkeys and processed inside Trusted Execution Environments
- Free users get 20 messages daily; unlimited access costs $35/month
- Why it matters: Users can discuss sensitive topics without fear of training-data harvesting or ad targeting
Confer, a new AI assistant from Signal co-founder Moxie Marlinspike, promises ChatGPT-style conversations while preventing the host from ever seeing user data. The service, which went live in December, uses layered encryption and hardware isolation so discussions cannot be mined for ads or model training.
How Confer Keeps Chats Private
The platform combines three defenses:
- WebAuthn passkey encryption secures messages in transit (best on mobile or macOS Sequoia; Windows/Linux require a password manager)
- Trusted Execution Environments isolate inference on the server
- Remote attestation verifies the TEE has not been tampered with
Inside the protected space, open-weight foundation models handle queries. The setup is more complex than standard inference, but it ensures the operator never gains access to raw prompts or responses.
A Response to ‘Confession’ Tech
Marlinspike argues chat interfaces invite unusually personal disclosures.
“It’s a form of technology that actively invites confession,” he says. “Chat interfaces like ChatGPT know more about people than any other technology before. When you combine that with advertising, it’s like someone paying your therapist to convince you to buy something.”
Confer’s architecture is designed to eliminate that risk by making data access technically impossible rather than merely policy-prohibited.
Pricing and Limits
| Tier | Price | Messages | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 20/day, 5 chats | Basic models |
| Unlimited | $35/month | Unlimited | Advanced models, personalization |
The premium plan costs significantly more than ChatGPT Plus, reflecting the expense of privacy-centric infrastructure.
Launch Details
According to News Of Philadelphia, the project debuted quietly in December 2025. It arrives as OpenAI experiments with advertising, heightening concerns that personal prompts could fuel targeted marketing much like social-media data already does.
James O Connor Fields reported the news on January 18, 2026.
