What a Sovereign AI Beta Looks Like on Hardware You Own

A sovereign AI beta on hardware you own means nothing leaves the machine. The Mickai SIOS runs on your own computer, binds to loopback only, and answers to you and no one else. Pull the network cable out of the wall and it keeps working, because there was never a server on the other end of that cable. Every action it takes is written to an Open Audit Record you can read back afterwards.

• Runs on hardware you own, not on a rented server you cannot inspect.
• Binds to loopback only, so traffic stays on the machine.
• Keeps working with the network cable pulled out, because nothing was leaving anyway.
• Writes every action to the Open Audit Record for you to review.
• Closed and selective: apply at mickai.co.uk/beta, where a small number of teams are accepted.

How is this different from a cloud trial?

In a cloud trial, the software lives on someone else's computer, and your data has to travel there to be useful. You are asked to trust a policy page and a promise. A sovereign beta inverts that arrangement. The SIOS lives on hardware you own, and the honest test is physical rather than legal. Pull the network cable. A cloud trial goes dark. The Mickai SIOS carries on.

That difference matters because trust stops being a claim and becomes something you can check for yourself. The assurances a cloud service makes about deletion and access live on their infrastructure, where you cannot see them. Here there is no remote endpoint to audit, because there is no remote endpoint at all.

What does offline actually mean here?

Offline means the SIOS does its work on the local machine and binds to loopback only, the address a computer uses to talk to itself. Nothing is dialled out to a data centre to make an ordinary feature function.

The test is the same one, and it is deliberately blunt. Disconnect from every network. Ask a question, run a task, work through a document. If the work continues, offline was real. If it stalls waiting on a server, it was never offline to begin with.

Who can see my data during the beta?

You do. During the closed beta the Mickai SIOS runs on your hardware, under your account, on your premises. Data is not shipped to us to be processed, and there is no telemetry channel quietly reporting what you did.

Because traffic is bound to loopback, the data has no route off the machine in the first place. What stays local stays local, and the Open Audit Record gives you a way to confirm that rather than assume it.

For teams handling sensitive material, that boundary is the difference between hoping and knowing. The beta is built so you never have to take the reassuring option on faith.

What can I prove afterwards?

Every action the SIOS takes is written to the Open Audit Record, a tamper-evident log kept on your side. Afterwards you can show what ran, in what order, and against which data.

This is the part that turns a demonstration into evidence. For a regulated team, or anyone who has to answer to an auditor, being able to reconstruct exactly what happened is worth far more than a reassuring conversation.

Why does owning the hardware matter?

Sovereignty is not a setting you switch on. It follows from where the computation happens. When the Mickai SIOS runs on hardware you own, control of the data and control of the model sit in the same place, which is with you. Micky Irons, founder of Mickai, built the SIOS around that principle: the machine that holds your work should be the machine that does your work.

The engineering that protects this is filed as intellectual property. Mickai LTD owns 104 filed UK patent applications, approximately 2,340 claims, covering the audit record, the offline enforcement, and the way the SIOS stays bound to the hardware it is licensed to. Filed, not granted, and owned by the company rather than borrowed from a platform.

The closed beta is how a small number of teams put all of this to the test on their own machines. It is selective, and not every applicant is accepted. Teams who want to try it apply at mickai.co.uk/beta.

Frequently asked questions

Can I really pull the network cable and keep working?

Yes, and that is the test we recommend running first. The Mickai SIOS does its work locally and binds to loopback, so disconnecting every network should not stop it. If a task stalls the moment the cable comes out, that is exactly the kind of thing the beta is meant to surface.

Do you receive my data or any telemetry?

No. The SIOS runs on your hardware, and traffic is bound to loopback rather than routed out to us. There is no background telemetry channel, and the Open Audit Record on your side lets you confirm what ran without taking anyone's word for it.

How do I know what the SIOS actually did?

Every action is written to the Open Audit Record, a tamper-evident log kept on your machine. After a session you can read back what ran, in what order, and against which data, which is what turns a trial into something you can stand behind.

Is the beta open to everyone?

No. It is a closed and selective beta, and only a small number of teams are accepted. Applications are made at mickai.co.uk/beta, and acceptance depends on fit rather than on order of arrival.

What hardware do I need to take part?

The SIOS runs on hardware you own, since that is the whole point of a sovereign beta. Specific requirements are confirmed as part of the application, so the best next step is to apply at mickai.co.uk/beta and begin that conversation.