We promise these three things in plain language. We also enforce them in the architecture of the product, where promises in code cannot be quietly walked back later.
What the Companion observes about you — your reading, your pauses, your patience, your held-back words — is for you alone. We do not show it on your profile. We do not let other users see it. We do not share it with employers, matrimonial sites, courts, or governments. It does not exist in a form anyone outside your device can read.
Vertex's substrate is, by architecture, blind to your politics, your religion, your sexual orientation, your gender, your caste, your relationship status, your mental health, your immigration status, and the company you keep. Twenty-five forbidden dimensions, enforced at the code level. We do not see these things. We do not measure them. We cannot weaponise them, even if asked to.
Atman and Mitram speak when you ask them to. If you do not want to hear from them — for an hour, a day, a month, forever — there is a button on every Companion screen. They will be quiet. They will not nudge, ping, or follow up. The Companion exists to serve you, not the other way around.
The forbidden dimensions list is a constant in the Companion's source code, with a runtime guard that throws an error if any code path attempts to record them. Loosening or removing these locks requires written approval from Vertex's founder and ethics board, and a public ADR (architecture decision record) explaining why. We have committed to never doing so.
If we ever change these principles, you will see the change announced here first, with the reason. We will not slip a weakening through a quiet release note.