SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Egoist Machines, a Y Combinator-backed startup focused on permission-based systems for sharing AI data, announced today the imminent launch of AI Passport, the only way to securely store and share your personal data and preferences among AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and more. The waitlist to sign up for a free AI Passport is now open at ego.ist. The solution will be generally available later this Summer.
A 2025 survey found that 82 percent of consumers see AI data loss-of-control as a serious personal threat. AI assistants store voluminous amounts of personal data on each user in a black box – and users don’t have control over it. This has led to great concern from not only users but also regulators around the world. Egoist’s AI Passport gives that control back to users.
Once users activate their AI Passport, they can establish connections to all their preferred AI assistants and other apps that rely on personal data – for instance, email, calendar, and work productivity apps. Once those connections are established, when a user shares a new piece of information with an app (e.g., a trip they are planning) or an app makes a note of new preferences (e.g., a new writing style), that information is shared with the user’s AI Passport. The user then can review that information and decide whether to share it with other apps, leave it only in the original app, or even delete it entirely (as one might want to do with sensitive information, such as health data).
“Until now, there has not been a permission-based system for sharing personal info with AI assistants – people should be in control of their own data,” said Erin McGurk, co-founder & CEO of Egoist Machines, who conceived of the AI Passport after growing alarm over how her own content was being leveraged by AI. “Users simply don’t know what their AI assistants know about them, and Egoist’s AI Passport is giving them that insight for the first time. It also makes it easier for users who want to share non-sensitive information among AI assistants, so those apps can be more tailored and productive.”
How Egoist’s AI Passport works
1. Users create their own passport at ego.ist.
2. Users add Connections to their preferred apps – for example, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Gmail, calendar apps, Notion and GitHub – and wearable devices.
3. When a user adds new information to one of those Connected apps – for instance, seeking help with an itinerary for a trip – those details are automatically synced to the user’s Inbox.
4. Users periodically review their Inbox and decide whether each piece of information can be shared with other apps, remain only in the original app, or be deleted entirely.
5. Connected apps can also request information on a user from AI Passport – for instance, a user’s travel preferences. User can set sensible defaults for accepting requests, but sensitive info like dates-of-birth are never given out without explicit user permission.
“Users decide exactly what enters their AI Passport, what stays private, and what gets shared – it’s not all or nothing, like it is today,” says McGurk.
McGurk and her co-founder, Dr. David Khachaturov, met at the University of Cambridge, where McGurk was studying Land Economy and Dr. Khachaturov was completing his PhD in Machine Learning. The two teamed up to start AI Passport after discovering their shared concern for how black-box AI assistants were collecting, storing and sharing user data, and frustrations at not being able to easily transfer data and preferences between various AI apps.
Egoist expects AI Passport to be generally available later this summer. Users can join the waitlist at ego.ist. App developers wishing to be part of the AI Passport ecosystem can visit ego.ist/developers to request information.
About Egoist Machines
Egoist Machines offers the only way to securely store and share your identity and preferences among AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and more. Once users activate their Egoist AI Passport, they can establish connections to all their preferred AI assistants and other apps that rely on personal data – for instance, email, calendar, and work productivity apps. Backed by Y Combinator, Egoist is focused on permission-based systems for sharing AI data. The waitlist to sign up for a free AI Passport is now open at ego.ist.
Media contact:
Michelle Faulkner
Big Swing
617-510-6998
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d20ed90f-afd8-409e-9d44-7b2192ddbc2a