What a Contact Model Contains
Each Contact Model captures multiple dimensions of a person’s communication:| Dimension | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Communication style | Formality level, typical message length, vocabulary patterns, tone preferences |
| Response patterns | Typical response time, preferred hours, urgency signals |
| Intent patterns | What they commonly ask for, how they make requests, how they say yes or no |
| Relationship dynamics | History between you and this contact, rapport signals, shared context |
| Cultural context | Language preferences, honorific levels (Keigo for Japanese), formality expectations |
How Contact Models Are Built
Contact Models build automatically from your communication history:- Initial build — When you first connect email, Outband analyzes 6-24 months of history and creates models for your top 50 contacts within the first hour
- Continuous refinement — Every new message you send or receive updates the relevant Contact Model
- Cross-channel enrichment — If you connect Slack or WhatsApp, messages from those channels enrich the same Contact Model
- User corrections — When you correct Outband’s understanding, the model updates immediately
Bilateral Intelligence
Traditional AI tools only model one side of a conversation — you. Outband models both sides:- Your Personal DNA captures how you communicate
- Contact Models capture how each contact communicates
- Together they enable Perception Prediction — predicting how a specific person will interpret a specific message from you
Confidence Scoring
Every Contact Model has a confidence score based on four factors:| Factor | Low confidence | High confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Data volume | Few messages analyzed | Hundreds of messages analyzed |
| Recency | Last interaction months ago | Recent, active communication |
| Consistency | Communication patterns vary a lot | Stable, predictable patterns |
| Context match | Limited context available | Rich, multi-channel context |
Personal DNA
Your Personal DNA is the Contact Model that represents you. It captures:- Your writing style and vocabulary
- Your tone preferences across different contexts
- Your typical response patterns
- Your communication priorities
The RLHF Feedback Loop
Every interaction with Outband improves your Contact Models:- Outband generates a draft or makes a prediction
- You review and either approve, edit, or reject
- Your feedback is fed back into the model
- Future interactions with that contact become more accurate
Privacy
Contact Models are built from your private communication data. Important privacy facts:- Contact Models are not shared with the contacts themselves
- Non-consenting contacts (people who are not Outband users) have models built under legitimate interest, with no personally identifiable information stored in model weights
- Any contact can request a data subject access report or deletion of their model
- Your Contact Models are fully exportable and deletable at any time