If You Want No AI in Your Writing App, You Should Know This First.
Shiro contains AI, and you can turn it off so that none of it runs. The code stays in the app. If you want a writing app with no AI in it at all, Scrivener and Dabble are closer to what you’re after, and we’d rather say that now than three paragraphs in.
If You’d Rather It Weren’t in the App at All
That’s a reasonable position, and there are apps that hold it too.
Scrivener. Its makers state plainly that Scrivener contains no AI and sends nothing anywhere in the background. It’s a one-off purchase with a long record. On a recent Mac, Apple Intelligence can act on text in Scrivener if you’ve enabled it yourself, which is Apple’s doing and your choice.
Dabble. It has a no-AI policy: it won’t put words on the page for you, and your writing is never sent to a generative model. It’s a subscription that works offline and across more devices than Shiro. Its pricing page leaves room for opt-in features later, so read the wording if that matters to you.
Novlr also says in its privacy policy that it uses no AI on your writing.
We’d point you to any of these without embarrassment. Writers have good reasons for not wanting this technology near their work, and you don’t need to explain yours here.
What Shiro Is, Plainly
Shiro is an app with an AI assistant in it. The assistant has the app’s name. The company sells hosted AI as part of its paid Cloud plans. If you’d rather not give money or attention to anyone doing that, you have your answer, and it’s a fair one.
The desktop app is free on your computer, with no account, whether or not you ever use the AI.
Turning It Off
There are two switches:
- You › Privacy › Turn AI off covers every project.
- Publish › AI for this project covers one book.
The switch closes every route to a model, whether local, your own key or hosted. The assistant’s panel goes away, along with ghost text, rewrites, background reading of your scenes, search by meaning and image generation. Plugins that use AI stop, and the plugin gallery hides extras that use it. Without the switch, a fresh install has nothing to talk to anyway: local models are downloaded on request, keys are your own, and hosted AI needs a paid plan.
Where It Still Sits, Idle
What remains after you turn it off:
- The code. The AI package is part of the app you download, and there’s no build without it. It’s open source, so anyone can read how the switch works.
- Some words on screen. The models page in settings stays in its menu, along with the AI use report, and KDP’s checklist still asks its AI question, because Amazon asks everyone.
- Dictation, if you start it. It uses a speech recogniser on your own computer, either your system’s or a Whisper model you download, and sends nothing anywhere. The switch doesn’t cover it, since it doesn’t touch your words, apart from Tidy dictation, which goes away. You never have to open it.
- The local API for outside AI tools. This has its own switch, off unless you turn it on.
What You Still Have
Board, Write, World or Research, and Publish all work. Continuity checks are plain code: one place at a time, not after death, ages, travel time, reveal order. Mentions match whole words on your computer. Spellcheck, the thesaurus and the Grammar and style plugin run offline with no AI. Snapshots, alternatives, revision passes, exports, Kindle presets and the rest are ordinary software.
What goes is everything that asks a model: Continue, Rewrite, Analyze, chat, the blurb kit, AI translation, and proposals such as threads and world rules. You can still write a translation side by side by hand.
The authorship record logs what was typed and pasted, and can produce a signed report. It shows the record wasn’t changed after signing, not who was at the keyboard. Some writers will want one; it’s on by default and can be switched off.
There’s no closing pitch on this page. If Shiro with the switch off suits you, it’s on the download page. If not, we hope the book goes well somewhere else.
The Questions People Ask
Can I turn off the AI in Shiro completely?
Yes. You › Privacy › Turn AI off applies to every project, and each project has its own switch under Publish › AI for this project. Once it’s off, no AI code path runs and nothing is sent to a model.
Is the AI code removed when I turn it off?
No. It stays in the app, idle. There is no build of Shiro without it. If that’s the part that matters to you, Scrivener or Dabble will suit you better.
Which writing apps have no AI at all?
Literature & Latte says Scrivener contains no AI, and Dabble and Novlr each state a no-AI policy. Plottr, a planning tool, lists “No AI” on every plan. Check their current wording yourself, since policies can change.
Does Shiro train AI on my writing?
Shiro never trains models on your writing. With AI off, nothing from your book goes to a model at all.