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Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 50%

Teardown 12

bonds

An AI friend that reads everything and explains nothing

What Ayush said · teardown

“A messaging app where every friend group or chat group gets an AI friend that responds on its own.”

10 screens · about 3 min

start ▶

Our group chat could use a friend who is always around.

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Fig. 1: The Product Hunt card: a friend in the chat who is an AI.

A friend who is AI

A friend in the group chat who is an AI. Okay.

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“every friends group or a chat group gets an AI friend which can have the ability to respond to things by themselves”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 55%65%
{WAIT}

Fig. 2: Nobody asked. bondi jumps in, in our words.

It talks like us

It talks like us. That is uncanny, and fun.

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“it lives in the chat, learns from it how the group talks, the words, the jokes you use, your routines”

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{WAIT}

Fig. 3: A busy thread. bondi only reacts.

It knows when to hush

It knows when to shut up. Rare.

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“It also decides on its own when to jump in, and most of the time it also means staying quiet or just reacting.”

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Fig. 4: The real policy: in transit, yes. End-to-end, no.

Not end-to-end

Wait. My messages are readable?

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“So everything which is related to your photo, it is encrypted, but the messages are not end-to-end encrypted”

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Fig. 5: Every message runs into bondi. Nothing says where it goes.

Straight into the AI

Everything we say goes into it. For what?

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“there's a difference in collection of data from a secondary source or through encryption than directly collecting the data and sending it to the AI itself.”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 25%35%
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Fig. 6: One friend tells bondi to be ruder. It just does.

Who can change it?

Who gets to change it? Anyone?

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“are you able to edit the particular bonds AI, which is the bonds friend, in your chat?”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 35%30%

Fig. 7: Last month we told each other everything. Now: fine.

We talk less

I talk differently when it is listening.

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“it will act like a human which is part of this group, but at the same time it's not a human per se”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 30%
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Fig. 8: The real policy: they will update the page if it changes “in a meaningful way”.

Who decides meaningful?

Who decides what counts as meaningful?

What Ayush said · walkthrough

“But it also says if we change this policy in a meaningful way, which is okay, but I think they can change it without telling anyone.”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 30%55%

Fig. 9: The same chat, before and after: bondi says what it keeps.

Say what it keeps

Tell the group what it keeps, in the chat.

What Ayush said · teardown

“explain how data is collected and used, clarify guardrails, make clear who can edit the Bonds friend and how, and be clearer about how the policy can change”

Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 55%

What mattered

The journey

Trust, slide by slide

Three moments

  1. 04Not end-to-end
  2. 05Straight into the AI
  3. 08Who decides meaningful?
Teardown 12 · bonds, an AI friend in the group chatTrust 55%

D

Our grade

Reads all, explains nothing

If it reads everything, it owes us answers.

What Ayush said · teardown

“A concern: the product depends on reading everything the group says, and the data handling is not explained.”

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