Privacy policy for Mao: AI Companion
Last updated: 29 October 2026 (free tier added)
Mao is a browser extension that puts a small animated character on your web pages and lets you talk with her. It is powered by Convai. Out of the box she runs on a free tier, through a small token service run by Alystria (the publisher); if you add your own Convai API key and character, she uses your account instead and the token service is never contacted. The extension has no analytics and no ads.
What stays on your computer
These are kept in your browser's extension storage and never leave your device:
- your settings, including your Convai API key, character ID and Cartesia API key if you add them;
- for the free tier, a random ID made for this browser and a count of today's messages;
- Mao's position, size and her friendship level with you;
- your grimoire (notes you ask her to remember);
- your quest log (a to-do list) and the reminders you set, including the address of the page a quest was made from when you create one from a page;
- your screen time: minutes per site name (such as youtube.com) for today and the day before, counted while she is on screen, with no pages or titles, plus for each of the last two weeks a daily total, a leisure total and that day's top three site names, and your daily fun budget if you set one; turn it off or clear it under Keep track of screen time in the settings;
- your recent conversation with her (the last 30 messages, dropped after 6 hours), so the chat carries over between pages; the 🧹 button in the chat clears it;
- her inner life: her mood and energy, a small log of today and yesterday (counts such as pages visited, spells cast and minutes of video watched together, plus the titles of pages you read together only while Let her read pages is on), her diary written from that log, the treasures she gave you, the treats you gave her, and your answers to her little questions ("tea or coffee?").
You can delete all of it by removing the extension.
The free tier
Without your own Convai key, the extension asks Alystria's token service (cyberpunk-convai-auth.vercel.app) for a short-lived Convai access token. Each request sends only:
- a random ID made for this browser when the free tier is first used (not linked to you or your Google account);
- the extension's version;
- how many messages she answered since the last request (a number, never the messages themselves).
The service uses these to keep each install within its daily allowance (currently 500 messages a day) and to block abuse; like any web server, it also sees the request's IP address. It never receives your conversations, the pages you visit or anything you type. With the token, the extension then talks to Convai directly, on Alystria's Convai account.
What is sent to Convai, and when
The extension talks to Convai (under your own Convai account, or on the free tier under Alystria's) only for these things:
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Messages you type to her | When you send them |
| Your voice | Only while the microphone button is on |
| The page's title, address, your selected text and the page's main text | Only while Let her read pages is turned on (it is off by default), and never on sites you have hidden her from |
| A screenshot of the current tab | Only when you press the 👁 Look button or choose "what's this image?" |
| An anonymous ID for this install | Only while Long-term memory is on, so she can remember you between sessions |
| Short notes about her friendship with you, her mood, a summary of your day together, your open quests, your answers to her questions, and grimoire notes that match the page | With your conversations, so she stays in character |
| Today's top few sites and minutes on each, and the last seven days' daily average (screen time) | With your conversations, only while both Keep track of screen time and Let her read pages are on |
Convai handles this data under its own privacy policy. With your own API key, using Convai's services (language model, speech and voice) may use your Convai credits; on the free tier it costs you nothing.
Her voice through Cartesia (optional)
If you add your own Cartesia API key in the settings, Convai sends her replies as text only, and the extension sends the text of each of her replies (nothing else: not your messages, and not the page) to Cartesia to be spoken, using your key. Cartesia returns the audio, which plays in your browser. Without a Cartesia key, nothing is ever sent to Cartesia. Cartesia handles this text under its own privacy policy, and its use is billed to your Cartesia account.
What she notices on the page
While she is shown on a page, the extension notices a few things you do so she can react: a video starting or ending, that you are typing (never what you type, and never in password fields), quick repeated clicks, very fast scrolling, and that you copied something (only its length). These signals stay inside the extension; they are not sent anywhere, except that when a video ends she may mention it to Convai if Speak up on her own is on.
Site access
At install the extension cannot read any website. It reaches a page only:
- when you click its toolbar button, use its keyboard shortcut or its right-click menu (for that tab only); or
- when you turn on Mao on every site in the settings. Your browser asks you to approve this first, and you can turn it off at any time.
The one address it may contact without asking is the free tier's token service above, which is not a web page you visit.
Contact
Questions about this policy: email the publisher at the contact address shown on Mao's Chrome Web Store page.