Hark, Brett Adcock’s new company, is launching an AI personal assistant that prioritises privacy

Hark Pro, available free of charge since 6 October, manages the user’s browser and accounts to carry out tasks from start to finish. A dedicated device is due to be launched in 2027.

Founded less than a year ago by Brett Adcock, a serial entrepreneur, Hark opened its Hark Pro assistant to the general public on October 6. Access is free, with an optional subscription for intensive use. The full-screen interface is organized around a discussion window, surrounded by "panels", small personalized dashboards, on a background that varies according to the weather and the time. The design is directed by Abidur Chowdhury, who worked for Apple.

An agent that acts in the place of the user

Connected to email, the calendar, the hard drive and financial accounts, the assistant identifies on its own what needs to be done: validate an expense report, book a flight, call back a meeting. He also knows how to navigate the web, and a small window shows his actions; the demonstration shows him renewing the registration of a car on the Californian DMV website. Hark relies on a model trained specifically for the use of the computer, faster and less expensive than a large generalist model, at the cost of a general knowledge that is probably more limited.

Faced with Muse, Dots or Instinct, the company is playing the independence card: it stresses that it is not linked to either Meta or OpenAI and says it does not build a detailed profile of its users beyond what the tasks require. A device designed around AI, the form of which is not revealed, is due to follow in 2027.