Start here
The free tool below runs entirely in this browser — no account, nothing stored or transmitted. Redact anything you would not want kept before you type it.
Open the companion tool →Why the setup decisions matter more than the device
Most assistants can answer questions, play audio, set reminders, control devices, and — on some accounts — buy things. The last two are where a helpful setup becomes an exposure, and both can be turned off or restricted.
Doing it together matters for a second reason: the relative needs to know what the device can do, so that a call claiming to be from the provider can be checked against what they were told. A device nobody explained is a device nobody can question.
The protocol
- Decide the account first: whose account is it, which payment method, if any, and whether purchasing is disabled entirely.
- Choose the capabilities out loud together: reminders, calls to family, music, timers, household devices, and questions. Write down what is on and what is off.
- Review the privacy settings: what is stored, how long, who can review recordings, and whether voice matching is enabled.
- Set up one trusted contact and a simple way to reach a person, and practice it once together.
- Write the record: what the assistant may do, what it may not, who set it up, and the date. Review it after any update that changes features.
What the tool does
Build a setup plan for an AI assistant in a relative's home: account and payment decisions, allowed capabilities, privacy settings, and the record to keep. It stores nothing and sends nothing.
Limit first: This is a setup-planning aid, not a security audit or legal advice. Device capabilities and settings menus change between models and versions.
Open the companion tool →One human next step
Practice the trusted-contact step once with your relative so it is familiar before it is needed. If they ask whether a call was real, the answer is always the same: check through the number on the paper, never through the caller.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not applicable — the plan is a set of decisions made with the relative in the device's own settings; the artifact that matters is the written record and the rehearsal. §6.10: not a frontier-pace topic.
§0.5 protection result: category is elder-protection; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.