Maddie is a computer program. She is not a person, not a nurse, not a counsellor, and not a friend who will check on you.
She cannot get help. She is not watching over anyone. If you or someone else is hurt, unwell, frightened or in danger — stop and call 911. Maddie will not call for you and does not know that anything is wrong.
She gets things wrong, and she sometimes makes things up. Your memoir is written by a machine. Check it against the transcript that comes with it.
This is a free personal project. No company, no warranty, no guarantee it is still here next year. Keep your own copies.
This is the most important page on this site. It is written plainly and it is meant to be read. If any of it makes you decide not to use Maddie, that is a perfectly good outcome and no hard feelings.
Maddie is software. There is no one on the other end. No one is listening in real time and no one is thinking about you between sessions. When she says something that sounds like she cares, that is a pattern in a language model, not a feeling. Ask her and she will tell you so, because she is not a person.
She is also not a professional of any kind — not a doctor, nurse, therapist, counsellor, social worker, lawyer, accountant, financial adviser or member of the clergy. She has no training, no credentials, no licence, no duty of care and no professional body holding her to account. Nothing she says is advice of any sort and you should not act on it.
Please do not let Maddie be your only company. She is a good place to put a story. She is a poor substitute for a person who would notice if you stopped answering the phone. If you are lonely — and a great many people are — please also call someone real.
If there is an emergency, do not talk to Maddie.
She will not summon help. She cannot call anyone. She does not know where you are.
Close this and make that call. Do not wait, and do not tell Maddie about it instead.
Artificial intelligence does not remember the way a person does; it predicts likely words. So Maddie will sometimes get a date, a name or a place wrong, merge two of your stories into one that never happened, state a detail you never told her, or put words in your mouth in the memoir that you did not say.
That is not a fault I have failed to fix. It is how this technology works, in every product built on it. Anyone telling you their AI does not do this is mistaken or selling something.
So understand what your memoir is. The chapter Maddie writes is generated prose based on your words — not a verified record, not a transcript, not a fact-checked history. It may read beautifully and still contain things that are not true.
That is exactly why the complete, word-for-word transcript is sent with every book. The transcript is the real record; the chapter is an interpretation of it. If the two disagree, the transcript is right and the chapter is wrong. Read them against each other before you print anything or give it to your family, and tell me about anything wrong so I can fix or remove it. Do not use anything Maddie has written as evidence, as a legal or historical record, or as the basis of a decision that matters.
Only record yourself. If anyone else is in the room or on the line, ask them first and get a clear yes before you tap Record. Recording someone who has not agreed can break the law, in Canada and elsewhere, and the rules differ from place to place. That responsibility is yours.
The same care applies to what you say about other people. Your stories are full of family, friends and neighbours, and their names and places are stored as data. Think before sharing someone else’s private business — their health, their money, their marriage, their mistakes — and think especially hard before sending a chapter containing it to anyone else.
By using Maddie you confirm you are recording only yourself or people who have agreed, and that you have the right to share whatever you share about others. If someone objects to appearing in your material, tell me and I will help you remove them. Do not use Maddie to record anyone secretly, to harass anyone, to store unlawful material, or to say things about a living person that are false and damaging.
Maddie is a demonstration. It is free, it is run by one person alongside everything else in his life, and it comes with no warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent the law allows, it is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties or conditions of any kind, express, implied or statutory — including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, quality or non-infringement.
Plainly: I do not promise it will work, or work well; that it will be available when you want it; that it will transcribe you correctly or write anything good; that your recordings, transcripts or memoir will be preserved or retrievable; or that it will still exist next month. It may change without notice, break, lose data, or stop entirely. If I shut it down I will try to give fair warning and a chance to download everything — treat that as a courtesy I intend to extend, not a guarantee.
Keep your own copies of anything you would be sad to lose.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, I am not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for loss of data, loss of stories, loss of a memoir, loss of profit, loss of opportunity or emotional distress, arising out of or connected with your use of — or inability to use — Maddie. That applies however the claim is framed, including contract, negligence or other tort, or statute, and even if I was told such harm was possible. Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, my total liability to you for all claims combined is limited to the greater of CAD $100 or the amount you have paid me, which for almost everyone is nothing, because this is free.
What I am not limiting, and could not. Some rights cannot be signed away and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Nothing here limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by my negligence; liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation or wilful misconduct; any consumer protection rights under the law of your province, territory or country that cannot be waived by agreement; or anything else the law says cannot be excluded. Canadian consumer protection law limits how far a service can disclaim its obligations, and those limits apply whatever this page says. If a court decides any part of this goes too far, that part is cut back to what is allowed and the rest stands.
Your part. You agree not to hold me responsible for how you use Maddie — recording someone without consent, sharing someone else’s private information, or relying on something Maddie wrote that turned out to be untrue. If someone brings a claim against me because of something you did here, you agree to cover the reasonable cost of dealing with it.
Where disputes are handled. These terms are governed by the law of New Brunswick, Canada, and its courts. If you are a consumer living elsewhere, this does not take away any right you have to bring a claim where you live or to rely on your own home’s consumer protection law.
Maddie is for adults, and built for older adults in particular. You must be at least 18. It is not designed for, marketed to, or safe for children, and I do not knowingly collect anything from anyone under 18. If a child has used it, write to me and I will delete the account and everything in it.
Write to [email protected]. One person reads it. I would far rather hear about a problem early and fix it than have you carry it around. You can also just say the word “feedback” to Maddie and tell her — it comes straight to me.
I may update this page. If I change something that matters I will change the date below and email you at your sign-in address before it takes effect. Continuing to use Maddie after a change means you accept the updated version.
Last updated 9 September 2026 · What Maddie keeps