Summary
Vellum has introduced Ambient Assistants, a new feature allowing users to interact with the @vellum_ai assistant as a floating interface over any Mac application. This innovation facilitates real-time guidance, enabling users to voice commands while remaining within their current app, and is particularly beneficial for managing complex tasks in unfamiliar software settings. Vellum's design emphasizes user privacy, as it stores data locally by default and requires explicit permissions for sensitive actions, ensuring that personal information remains secure and under user control. With seamless functionality across multiple platforms including macOS, iOS, and Android, Ambient Assistants aim to enhance productivity by allowing users to complete tasks efficiently with on-screen assistance.
Analysis
Vellum: Vellum is a personal AI assistant designed for customization and long-term memory, allowing users to shape its behavior, voice, and task execution across devices. It operates locally on a user's machine by default or via cloud, with built-in integrations for tools like Google Workspace, Slack, and Notion, plus support for external models. The company launched Ambient Assistants to enable real-time screen awareness and on-screen guidance directly within the Vellum assistant experience. Vellum assistant: Vellum assistant serves as the core AI companion within the Vellum platform, capable of executing tasks across files, tools, and applications while maintaining personalized memory and permissions. It supports voice interactions, on-screen collaboration, and autonomous operation in the background once plans are approved. In the context of the recent launch, it now incorporates Ambient Assistants capabilities for direct screen interaction and annotation on macOS. Ambient Assistants: Ambient Assistants is a new feature from Vellum that renders the AI as a floating interface on any Mac app, providing real-time screen viewing and drawing capabilities to highlight elements. It enables hands-free task handoff via voice while the assistant works in the background, along with step-by-step visual guidance for complex interfaces like dashboards in tools such as QuickBooks or Shopify. The feature addresses limitations of traditional chat-based assistants by making context from the live screen available without manual screenshots or prompts. Model Flexibility: Users can switch between different underlying AI models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or local options through Ollama at any time. Privacy and Control: Vellum emphasizes local data storage by default with explicit user permissions required for high-stakes actions, ensuring personal information remains under user ownership unless opted into cloud services. Cross-Platform Access: The assistant maintains consistent memory, chats, and active tasks across macOS, iOS, Android, web, and other interfaces like Slack or Telegram.