A family AI that runs at home.
Candice is a private assistant one family in Malaysia built for themselves. Candice runs on a machine in the house, answers in iMessage, and knows who each person is.
A real problem, and what Candice sent back.
An unedited screen recording of a real conversation. The notes beside it cover what Candice remembered, how the numbers were worked out, and where everything is kept.
A real conversation with Candice. Screen-recorded, unedited.
Candice remembers
The renovation budget, the developer handover still waiting on re-inspection, the balcony you measured last week. You do not have to say any of it twice.
Candice does the arithmetic
Asked how many light panels each room needs, Candice worked it out from the panel's spec sheet and the standard lux target for each room:
- Living2 panels. 25–30m² at 300 lux needs ~8,000–9,000 lumens.
- Bedrooms1 each. 200 lux target, one panel covers 3,200 lumens.
- Kitchen1 + task. 400 lux for counters, add under-cabinet light.
- SkipBathrooms (not wet-rated) and the foyer (overkill).
- 6 panels, RM2,154 total, and a warning that the smart version's Zigbee may not pair with your Aqara.
You own all of it
Candice runs on a machine in your house. The budget, the messages and the plans sit on that machine. No company holds an account for you, and there is no monthly fee.
Your name never leaves the house.
Some questions need a cloud model. The private details do not go with them. Names, emails and numbers are swapped for placeholders before the request leaves, then swapped back when the answer returns, so the cloud model never sees who the question is about.
Your text
A message arrives in iMessage, names and numbers included.
Gather
Candice pulls the memory and facts the answer needs.
Mask
Names, emails, phones and cards become placeholder tokens.
Model
Only the masked version leaves the house.
Unmask
The placeholders become the real values again, at home.
Reply
You get the real answer back in the thread.
What the model sees
"did [PERSON_2] reply from [EMAIL_1] about the reno quote?"
What you see
"yep, Elaine emailed back from elaine@… this morning. the quote came in RM4,000 under budget."
Build your own Candice.
One family built this in Malaysia and runs it on a machine in the house. The code is there if you want to run your own. Candice asks first before doing anything that cannot be undone.
See how it's built"Want me to go ahead and book it?"