“TETYS” PROJECT
🤔 Did you know your phone might track your location or record audio without consent?
🔓 Are you using biometric security (as your fingerprint) to add a security layer to your device?
If you are keen on prioritising your privacy (as we are), we have something for you.
Join us in today’s interview, where we’ll have the pleasure of interviewing Gael Duval, founder and CEO of Murena, who will show us that making profitable and ethical business proposals is possible and will put consumer interest at the forefront
Curious about it?
Welcome to the world of Murena (ALLMA Project)
Can you introduce yourself and your company, and explain what makes you different?
My name is Gaël Duval; I am the founder and CEO of Murena. We develop smartphones and, in particular, smartphone software.
Our flagship product is /e/OS, an open-source Android variant built from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). It runs all Android apps, but our focus on ethical standards for /e/OS sets us apart from Google’s Android.
For example, we have built it following ‘privacy-by-design’ principles — so it is quite the opposite of Google, whose business model relies on targeted ads for >80% of its income, for which they need data about people. Also, all the software we make is 100% open-source, meaning anyone can independently audit our privacy promises (which has been done).
We also focus increasingly on making /e/OS the most sustainable mobile OS out there by running our cloud on renewable energy, providing updates for devices long after Google has stopped doing so (the oldest devices we support are more than ten years old) and by collaborating with repairable manufacturers like Fairphone and Teracube.
What services or products do you offer?
We sell smartphones📱.
All phones you can buy on www.murena.com come preinstalled with /e/OS by default + a suite of open-source apps. They also come with 1GB of free cloud storage, built with open-source software (Nextcloud) for those who want it.
What milestones have you achieved so far since your project launch?
NGI Search enables us to take our first steps toward incorporating AI into our product line. So far, we have reviewed, assessed, and compared the various open-source large language models (LLMs) that exist.
We have also started work on bringing the power of these models to /e/OS so that our users can leverage the power of AI on their phones in the future.
All of this is done, of course, in line with our existing values:
📌 Open-source.
📌 Privacy-by-design.
📌 Sustainability.
What have you achieved with your idea thanks to the NGI Search project?
It is a bit early to say that.
Hopefully, this project will start a lot of exciting open-source development that integrates AI functionalities into the various components of Android-based mobile operating systems such as /e/OS.
What are your goals for the middle/long-time future?
By building enterprise-grade mobile software suites, we hope to expand our user base among consumers and improve our offerings for organisations.
For AI specifically, we hope to bring the power of AI to our users so that they can trust the AI:
📌 Built with respect for their privacy.
📌 Built open-source so that the community can further develop it at large.
📌 Built with respect for the environment.
Do you have any advice for those who are looking for public funding?
The European Commission has many excellent funding opportunities for social enterprises attempting to establish ethical products and services.
The Next Generation Internet programme is a great place to start: look it up and see the opportunities for your organisation or project! 🚀
