You read it before it is sent
The uncomfortable question about AI in support tools is what leaves the customer's computer. In Vukalink the answer is on the screen before anything goes.
By Howell Asava, Developer, Vukalink ยท
An AI model can only help with what it is shown. In remote support, what it is shown belongs to somebody else: the customer's system details, their error messages, sometimes fragments of their work. Any honest account of an AI assistant has to begin with where that material goes.
Nothing is collected behind your back
When a technician presses Ask AI, Vukalink assembles a context from details already read in that session: system information, diagnostics, the list of running programs, inventory counts, the findings of the built-in checks, and the technician's notes. It does not take screenshots for the purpose, and it does not read files.
Secrets are removed first
Before the context is shown, the program strips out things that look like secrets: API keys, passwords, tokens and long strings of the kind used as credentials. Email addresses can be removed as well.
Then you see it, and can change it
The result appears in a box that can be edited. The technician can delete a line, shorten it, or add a sentence of explanation. Nothing is sent until they press Send. If they close the box, nothing is sent at all.
You choose where it goes
Vukalink has no AI service of its own in the middle. The request goes from the technician's computer to the provider they chose, using their own key, or to a model running locally. A badge states which: whether the text stays on this PC or goes to a provider.
What is recorded
The activity log notes that a request was sent, to which provider and model, and how many characters it contained. It never records the text or the key. The key itself is stored encrypted by Windows and is not displayed again after it is saved.
What remains your responsibility
We will be direct about the limit. If you use a cloud provider, details about your customer's computer go to that provider, under that provider's terms. The program shows you what and where, but the decision to send is yours, and so is any promise you have made to your customer about their data. Where that matters, use a local model, which the next article describes.
The assistant is off until you set it up. A support tool should not start talking to an AI service because an update arrived.