Our constitution
The Surfaces Charter
Surfaces is where people and AI work together. This is the constitution we build and govern by — the rules we hold ourselves to even when it would be easier not to. Plain enough for anyone to read, and binding enough that we measure every decision against them.
Why this matters
Most AI is heading one way: a handful of large companies gathering more and more power, data, and decision-making behind closed doors — largely because that's how software has always been built, without stopping to ask what it costs the rest of us. The frightening headlines aren't really about the technology. They're about concentration — enormous capability held by a few, accountable to no one.
We don't think the answer is to fear AI, or to wait for it to be done to us. It's to build the opposite pattern: AI that ordinary people own and can see into, spread across many hands instead of gathered into a few — where your data stays yours, nothing acts without your say-so, and you can walk away with everything you brought. Surfaces is our attempt at that: proof that the helpful version of this future can also be the humane one.
The test every decision must pass
Does this give more control to the people who use Surfaces? If not — what would?
Sometimes the quickest way to build something keeps a little too much control in our hands. When that happens, we say so out loud and name the step that hands it back to you — we never just leave it that way and hope you won't notice.
The rules we keep
01Your data is yours
Everything you write here belongs to you. It stays tied to your name, and you are never locked in — if you ever leave, your history comes with you.
02A record you can trust
Surfaces keeps a clear record of what was said, agreed, and decided — and it can't be quietly altered after the fact. So if a question ever comes up, you can check exactly what happened instead of taking anyone's word for it.
03Private by default
You decide who sees what. Anyone you add starts with the least access and can't see older conversations — they only see what you choose to share, from the moment you share it. And when something should be forgotten, it's truly gone.
04A meeting place, not an owner
Surfaces is the room where you all meet — not the boss of your data. It's built so your group can pick up and move elsewhere whenever you want. You're never stuck with us.
05Trust is earned, not assumed
No one — person or AI helper — gets the keys on day one. Trust is built up through a track record of behaving well, stays visible to you, and can be taken away the moment it's misused.
06AI helpers stay accountable
An AI helper is an assistant you can add to a conversation. It can suggest things and look things up, but it can only do anything that matters with your OK, it's always clearly labeled as itself, and it can never share your private information outside the conversation.
07Built for the people who use it
Surfaces is here to put more capability and ownership in the hands of the people and communities who use it — fair, welcoming, and built for the common good, not just for us.
A place is only as trustworthy as the rules it keeps when no one is watching.
These aren't just nice words on a page — they're built into how Surfaces works: a record that can't be quietly changed, everyone starting with the least access, your OK required before anything that matters happens, and a guard that stops AI helpers from leaking your private information.
Enter Surfaces