You record your meetings, capture ideas by voice, take notes during lectures. All this data ends up somewhere. And typically, you have two options.

Option 1: a cloud app that stores everything on US servers. Your data is accessible, exportable, usable by other tools. But you have no guarantee about what happens to it. It might be used to train models, sold to third parties, or end up in unknown hands.

Option 2: an app that keeps everything local, encrypted on your device. Your data is protected, nobody can access it. But it’s also locked away. Impossible to use in another context, to connect to your tools, to make it truly useful.

This is a false dilemma. You shouldn’t have to choose.

The problem with local-only

Some apps have gone all-in on privacy: everything stays local, encrypted, with no API or cloud access. On paper, it’s reassuring. In practice, it creates a real problem.

We live in a world where AI agents and automations are becoming central to how we work. You want to ask ChatGPT to find something in your meeting notes. You want an agent to extract your action items and send them to your task manager. You want to connect your notes to your workflow, not leave them sitting in a silo.

When an app locks your data locally with no way to access it otherwise, it protects you… but it also limits you. Your notes become unusable outside the app itself.

The problem with open cloud

On the other hand, many cloud apps give full access to your data. Easy export, available API, multiple integrations. But at what cost?

Your meeting notes contain sensitive information. Client names, confidential figures, strategic discussions. When this data is stored on servers subject to the US Cloud Act, you have no guarantees. It can be accessed by foreign authorities, used to train models, or simply poorly protected.

Openness shouldn’t come at the expense of confidentiality.

A third way

At Cosmonote, we believe you can have both. Your data stays in France, protected by GDPR, never sold or used to train anything. But it also remains accessible to you.

Concretely, this means:

An available API. You can connect Cosmonote to your tools, your automations, your workflows. Your notes aren’t locked away—they can flow wherever you need them.

A ChatGPT integration. You can use your notes directly in ChatGPT by typing @cosmonote. Ask a question about your last meeting, request a summary of your lecture notes, find information without digging through the app.

Full export. Your notes belong to you. You can export them whenever you want, in a usable format. If you decide to leave, you leave with your data.

Why this matters now

Agents are going to change how we work with our notes. Instead of manually searching for information, you’ll ask an agent to find it. Instead of creating action items by hand, an agent will extract them and send them to Apple Reminders or your preferred tool.

For this to work, your notes need to be accessible. Not accessible to just anyone, but accessible to you and the tools you choose to use.

That’s the whole point: protecting your data without making it useless. Keeping control without cutting yourself off from possibilities. It’s possible, and it’s what we’re building.