How Otis Works
How Otis works
Most AI email tools need to connect to your inbox. Otis works differently. Here is what that means and what it does not mean.
The problem with other AI email tools
When you connect an AI email tool to your inbox, you give it permission to read every email in your account, past and future. It can read your emails automatically, index your conversations, and access messages you never asked it to see.
Once you connect, that access continues until you disconnect. Most people never do.
We wanted AI help with email without that trade-off. So we built Otis to work differently.
How Otis works instead
Otis uses email forwarding. You forward an email to Otis, and Otis replies with a draft, summary, or extraction. That is the entire interaction.
Otis has no way to connect to your inbox. It cannot read emails you did not forward. It cannot scan in the background. It cannot access your email history.
Privacy by control: You decide which emails Otis sees, one at a time. If you stop forwarding, Otis sees nothing.
What this means in practice
- Sees only emails you forward
- Cannot connect to your inbox
- Cannot send emails on your behalf
- Works with any email provider
- No account connection required
- Can read every email in your account
- Maintain ongoing inbox access
- Can send emails on your behalf
- Usually Gmail or Outlook only
- Require account connection
What we are honest about
The forward-only model gives you control over what Otis sees. It does not mean your data is invisible to us or that we store nothing. Here is the full picture:
We use OpenAI. When you forward an email to Otis, we send it to OpenAI's API to generate a response. OpenAI does not train on customer data sent via their API, but they do process it. If you are not comfortable with that, Otis is not the right fit.
Our email provider keeps logs. Forwarded emails are processed by our email service provider and automatically deleted within 45 days. During that window, the email content exists in their system.
We store generated responses. The drafts, summaries, and extractions Otis creates are stored in your account until you delete them or close your account.
The difference is scope. Connected tools can access your entire inbox. Otis can only access what you explicitly share. That is the trade-off we chose.
Who this is for
The forward-only model works well if you:
- Handle sensitive or confidential emails and want to control what AI sees
- Use an email provider that other AI tools do not support
- Want AI drafting help without a full email client replacement
- Prefer explicit sharing over background access
It is not the right fit if you want AI to automatically process your entire inbox, prioritise messages, or work without manual forwarding.
Connecting to your tools
Otis can send results to your existing workflows via webhooks. When Otis generates a draft, extraction, or summary, it can automatically notify tools like Zapier, Make, Slack, or your own backend.
This lets you build automations like:
- Send extracted ticket data to Jira
- Post email summaries to a Slack channel
- Log all drafts to a Google Sheet
Read the webhooks documentation for setup instructions and payload examples.
Questions
Does Otis read my entire inbox?
No. Otis cannot connect to your inbox. It only sees emails you explicitly forward. If you don't forward anything, Otis sees nothing.
Is my email data used to train AI models?
No. Otis uses OpenAI's API, which does not train on customer data. Your email content is processed to generate responses and is not retained for training purposes.
How long does Otis keep my email data?
Forwarded emails are processed by our email service provider and automatically deleted within 45 days. Generated responses are stored until you delete them or close your account.
Can I request deletion of my data?
Yes. Email [email protected] and we will delete your data from our systems.
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