Blog
Notes from Royal Softworks
Engineering notes, product updates and perspective on local-first AI and building software that never leaves your own hardware.
Where Do Your Files Actually Go When You 'Share' Them?
Uploading a file to a sharing link isn't just convenience — it's usually a legal act, an international data transfer with its own paperwork. Here's what actually happens, plainly.
July 18, 20264 min
Where Does That Prompt Go? What Happens When You Paste Sensitive Data Into a Cloud AI
Pasting a patient note or a contract into a chat window sends that text to a vendor's servers, full stop. Here's what that actually means under HIPAA, and what changes with on-device inference.
July 18, 20264 min
Direct, Not Relayed: How WebRTC Actually Secures a Peer-to-Peer File Transfer
WebRTC makes encryption mandatory at the protocol level, not a checkbox you can leave unticked. Here's how the handshake actually works, and why a signaling server never sees your file.
July 18, 20264 min
RAG, Explained Honestly: What Retrieval-Augmented Generation Can and Can't Fix
Retrieval-augmented generation is often sold as the cure for AI hallucination. Research on real RAG products shows it's a real improvement, not a cure — here's what it actually does, and what still gets through.
July 18, 20264 min
On-Premise vs. Cloud AI for Finance Teams: The Actual Trade-offs
Cloud AI is faster to pilot and cheaper at low volume. On-premise wins on compliance and, past a real break-even point, on cost too. Here's how to actually make the call, without the vendor-stat inflation.
July 18, 20264 min
Attorney-Client Privilege and AI: What a 2026 Federal Ruling Actually Changed
A federal court has now ruled, for the first time, that a defendant's chats with a consumer AI tool weren't privileged. Here's what United States v. Heppner actually held, and what it means for firms using AI on client matters.
July 18, 20265 min
Why AI Pilots Keep Dying in Financial-Services Compliance Review
A third of financial-services leaders now ban generative AI outright or in part. The reason isn't caution for its own sake — it's a specific, nameable set of regulations that cloud AI wasn't built to satisfy.
July 18, 20265 min
Welcome to the Royal Softworks blog
Why we're writing here, and what to expect — notes on local-first AI, data sovereignty, and building software that never leaves your hardware.
July 17, 20261 min