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# System prepended metadata

title: Shaping the Jan's Manifesto

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# Shaping the Jan's Manifesto

New generation of tools will not only help people solve problems but also elevate them with their philosophies and grow alongside their users. “If you have principles and enough patience, being 100% user-supported is by far the most fun way to build.” https://stephango.com/vcware

We are trying to figure out how Jan should be positioned and the direction it should take. We have changed our minds many times in this process. Just in the last three weeks, we have had the following structure:

- A tool that makes it easiest to run LLMs locally.
- A tool that learns from people and does things on their behalf.
- **A personal AI that learns from user and offers 100% ownership.**

## Why we are going to have this path?

Giants like OpenAI and Anthropoic are creating centralized AI and they are not transparent about it. The most efficient way to overcome this is through open-source AI. To do this, we need to have some principles and manifestos. 

Before creating a manifesto, it is necessary to clarify what needs to be opposed.

- **Central AI** - Controlled by giants
- Not giving **ownership** to people - If the tool disappears, all your actions within the tool also disappear
- Violation of **privacy** - Being tracked at all times
- Luring people into the tool with fancy words and then **charging for the features they need most** - Like having to pay to collaborate with a team member on a great drawing you made in Excalidraw
- Locking people into a **proprietary ecosystem** once they start using the tools.

![Screenshot 2024-02-27 at 10.51.31](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Syp9EMs36.png)
https://thedefiant.io/vitalik-buterin-proposes-d-acc-philosophy-in-post-on-techno-optimism

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There are a few tools that can be taken as examples in this regard, and the first one is undoubtedly Obsidian. Obsidian is such an open-source, user-centric platform that even its CEO was once a member of the community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z58FsjT-UO8

![Screenshot 2024-02-26 at 22.26.34](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/ryQDO-ona.png)

## What are Obsidian's core values?

- Free for personal use
- Built on durable, open file formats without lock-in
- Private, offline-first, and E2E encrypted
- Endlessly customizable via API/plugins

### What are Obsidian's manifesto?

Yours, durable, private, malleable, independent. https://obsidian.md/about

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## Ideation: Jan's Core Values

According to Karpaty's expression, a tool should be like this: private, secure, delightful, free of dark patterns, fully aligned with the user,  where you retain full control and ownership of your data in simple, universal formats, and where tools can be extended and composed. https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1761467904737067456

It's the combination of greatnes!

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### Jan's Core Values and Manifesto

I believe a tool that offers personal AI to people and does so within ethical boundaries should have the following values:

### Personal
Being “personal” isn't just about being used by you, it's about truly belonging to you. Jan is completely yours, and you can customize it.

### Private
Your personal AI is the closest companion while using your computer. So all your data is stored only on your device, and not even we can see your data.

### Adaptable
You are unique, just like everyone else. You can access Jan's source files to customize it according to your needs, ideas or desires.

### User-owned
Jan is entirely owned by its users and is 100% user-supported. You store everything in non-proprietary, open, and universal file standards.

### Viable
Sustainability and longevity are at the core of Jan. We are committed to providing a tool that remains effective and flexible over time.

## How to tell manifesto-based story?

### Direction

When choosing statements, the positioning of competitors is largely considered, but there is no such topic in the direction we want to go. For example, do you think Obsidian is competing with Notion? Absolutely not. 

![Screenshot 2024-02-26 at 21.45.48](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BJyyyzs2p.png) (Kepano's tweet - just for subs on Twitter)

Obsidian has a dream, it develops something for this dream, and its users work to realize this dream. This is a wonderful thing.

Obsidian desires people to think sharply. What about Jan? 

# Jan

We aim to establish the connection between future humans and their collaboration with robots. This is a clear goal, and if we have such a goal, we will have many competitors. So? 

What kind of world would it be in human-robot collaboration? If this collaboration is friendly, people would only focus on creative tasks and decision-making, getting help from robots and leaving the rest to robots. What does this exactly mean? It means being a decision-maker, focusing only on what matters. Then, we are a tool that helps people focus on what is matter for them.

So Jan allows people to focus on what matters.

In additionaly, we want to convey this feeling: **Jan is completely yours, all your data will stay with you, control is entirely in your hands, and you can train it as you wish.**

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## Telling the story: Homepage

### Section 1: Main message, definition, CTA

- **Main message**: Focus on what matters
- **Definition**: Jan is your personal AI, fully owned by you and stored on your computer. You can nurture and shape it to fit your unique needs.
- **CTA**: Download Jan

![Screenshot 2024-02-27 at 10.39.42](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H1MRWzsnp.png)

### Section 2: Manifesto

*Note: Previously, when crafting Jan's message, we focused on the benefits of the features. Now, we focus on the benefits of the manifesto first. It's necessary to convince people of the benefits of the manifesto.* So:

**Your personal AI lives on your computer**
Jan is stored on your computer, so you are 100% the owner and nobody can track your chats and actions.

**Unique, special for you**
Jan adapts to you, it’s a truly personal AI. You can teach Jan with conversations, docs, files, websites, videos.

**You have full control**
Your personal AI must be under your control, you can adjust alignment, moderation, and censorship levels to meet your specific needs.

**With you even on flights**
Jan doesn't rely on the internet to be there for you, so you can work with your personal AI offline seamlessly. 
You can also connect to any remote API like GPT-4 for enhanced capabilities.

![Screenshot 2024-02-27 at 10.26.06](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Sy9oRZin6.png)

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# Failed and started again...

Nice, but... People can't connect with these words. The expressions should have a counterpart in people's minds. What about these ones for the homepage?

**Your AI should be unmistakably yours.**
Jan is stored on your computer, so you are 100% the owner and nobody can track your chats and actions.

**True ownership means no compromises.**
Your personal AI must be under your control, you can adjust alignment, moderation, and censorship levels to meet your specific needs.

**Adaptability is key to longevity.**
Jan adapts to you. You can teach Jan with conversations, docs, files, websites, videos and it will be with you until you delete it.

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Finalizing Homepage

Focus on what matters
Jan is a personal AI that you own. 
Lives on your computer, adaptable to your unique needs.
Download Jan
Trusted by 300K+ users.
Available for Windows, Mac, Linux.


Jan is yours to shape
You own - shape it, customize it without compromises nor limitations.

Jan runs private and secure
Stored locally – your data remains yours alone.

Jan adapts to you
Teachable - Jan learns from you, for you and with you.

Let the homepage that reflects the ideas speaks.

![jan.ai ideation](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rJpbZk226.png)
