Folk Os: Internal AI Tool

FolkOS is a private, secure, and encrypted AI platform built for internal agency use, powered by ChatGPT-4o. Designed to replace fragmented, unsecured AI usage, FolkOS gives teams a single, compliant environment to explore AI safely, while laying the foundation for future custom agents, workflows, and tools.

Design Challenge
The core challenge was as a Digital Designer to build an internal AI tool from scratch, in close collaboration with a developer, that balanced ease of use with enterprise level security.

On one hand, FolkOS needed to feel as intuitive and familiar as tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. On the other, it had to meet strict requirements around data privacy, client confidentiality, and controlled access, without slowing teams down or creating friction.

Another layer of complexity was scalability: FolkOS wasn’t just a chat interface, but a platform that would evolve into dedicated AI agents, processes, and custom capabilities over time.

Research
Research focused on understanding how AI was already being used across the agency, and where the risks and gaps were.

Key insights included:

• Teams were actively using AI but relying on personal accounts, shared logins, or free tools, creating security and compliance risks.

• There was an urgent need for a centralised, agency-approved AI solution that could also be confidently used on client-related work.

• Users wanted flexibility and speed, but leadership needed privacy guarantees, encryption, and protection against data leakage.

Prototyping & User Testing
Early versions of FolkOS were shared with a small group of agency members across roles and teams.

This phase focused on:

• Validating that the tool felt familiar and easy to adopt with minimal onboarding.

• Testing login flows, security friction, and account setup to ensure they felt robust but not intimidating.
  
  Gathering feedback on clarity, trust, and confidence, especially around how data was handled and protected. User feedback directly informed refinements to the experience, messaging around security, and the prioritisation of future features.
  
  

Final Outcome
FolkOS launched as a secure, private AI platform available to everyone in the agency, featuring:

• Individual user accounts with strong authentication and brute-force protection

• End-to-end encrypted communication

• Anonymised prompts and searches

• No data stored or visible within ChatGPT or internally

• Additional security layers beyond standard AI tools to protect client data

While the initial release mirrors the simplicity of existing AI chat tools, FolkOS is designed to grow, supporting upcoming AI agents, workflows, and custom capabilities tailored to agency needs.

Impact:
FolkOS empowers teams to confidently use AI in their daily work, removes security concerns around client data, and establishes a future ready foundation for more advanced AI-driven processes across the agency.

Initial screens before add ons:

Live Website Today: