Terms of Service

Welcome to AskCrates! These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website, applications, and services (collectively, the "Services"). By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING OUR SERVICES.

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account, accessing our website, or using our Services, you agree to:

• Comply with these Terms and all applicable laws and regulations
• Our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy
• Be legally bound by this agreement

If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use our Services.

2. Eligibility and Account Requirements

2.1 Age Requirements

• Under 13 (U.S.) / Under 16 (EU): You must have verifiable parental or guardian consent to use our Services
• 13–15 (U.S.) / 16–17 (EU): You may use our Services with parental awareness and supervision
• 18 and older: You may use our Services independently

2.2 Account Creation

To use certain features, you must create an account. You agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete information
• Maintain the security of your account credentials
• Promptly update your account information if it changes
• Accept responsibility for all activities under your account
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized access

You may not share your account with others or create multiple accounts.

3. Description of Services

AskCrates provides an AI-powered tutoring platform that:

• Helps students learn through guided questions and hints
• Uses student-uploaded materials as the foundation for responses
• Converts uploaded files into chunks and vector embeddings for retrieval-based tutoring
• Adapts to individual learning levels and styles
• Supports multiple subjects and educational levels

Important: Our Services are designed to help you learn and understand concepts. We do not provide direct answers to homework or exam questions. Our AI tutor guides you to find solutions yourself.

4. Acceptable Use Policy

4.1 Permitted Use

You may use our Services for:

• Personal, non-commercial educational purposes
• Understanding concepts and learning through guided assistance
• Uploading your own educational materials
• Asking questions related to your coursework

4.2 Prohibited Use

You may NOT use our Services to:

• Cheat on exams, tests, or assignments
• Submit AI-generated content as your own work
• Upload copyrighted materials you do not have rights to use (including excerpts from published works, handouts, or other third-party materials—upload only content you own or have permission to use for personal learning)
• Share accounts or sell access to the Services
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers) without authorization
• Harass, abuse, or harm others
• Upload malicious content, viruses, or harmful code
• Violate any applicable laws or regulations
• Impersonate others or provide false information

5. User Content

5.1 Your Content

"User Content" means any materials you upload, submit, or transmit through our Services, including learning materials, questions and conversation history, and profile information.

5.2 Content License

You retain ownership of your User Content. By uploading content, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to process your content to provide and improve our Services and generate personalized tutoring responses. Original uploaded files are processed transiently and deleted after processing (with automated forced cleanup), while derived chunks/embeddings and related metadata may be retained to deliver the Service until you delete content or close your account, subject to legal requirements. This license ends when you delete your content or close your account, except for copies in backups deleted in our normal cycle and aggregated anonymized data used for analytics.

5.3 Content Responsibility

You are solely responsible for your User Content. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights, licenses, or permissions to upload and use all User Content—including any third-party content such as excerpts from published works, curriculum materials, or handouts—that it does not violate laws or third-party rights (including copyright), and that it does not contain viruses or malicious code.

5.4 Content Monitoring

We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor and review User Content, remove content that violates these Terms, and suspend or terminate accounts for violations.

5.5 Copyright and Intellectual Property Complaints

If you believe that content on our Services infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please contact us at info@askcrates.com with sufficient detail (e.g. identification of the work, the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, and a good-faith statement). We will review valid complaints and may remove content and/or terminate accounts of repeat infringers. You may be liable for damages if you knowingly materially misrepresent that content infringes your rights.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

6.1 Our Property

All aspects of the Services (software, algorithms, AI models, text, graphics, logos, design, trademarks, branding) are owned by AskCrates or our licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

6.2 Restrictions

You may not copy, modify, or create derivative works of our Services; use our trademarks or branding without permission; or remove or alter any copyright or proprietary notices.

7. AI-Generated Content

7.1 Nature of AI Responses

Our AI tutor generates responses using machine learning. Responses may not always be 100% accurate; AI may occasionally produce unexpected outputs; responses should be verified with authoritative sources.

7.2 Academic Integrity

You are responsible for ensuring your use complies with your school's academic integrity policies. We encourage you to use our Services to understand concepts (not to complete assignments), disclose your use of AI tutoring tools if required by your institution, and submit only your own original work.

7.3 Real-time Voice Processing and Cross-Border Transfer

If you enable real-time audio/voice features, you agree that voice data may be transmitted to and processed by service providers in the United States to provide live AI responses. For child accounts, this feature can only be enabled by a parent or legal guardian in the parent dashboard.

8. Fees and Payment

We may offer free and paid tiers. For paid services: fees are charged as described at purchase; payments are processed securely through third-party processors; subscriptions automatically renew unless cancelled; cancellation and refund handling are subject to the checkout terms applicable to your transaction and our Refund Policy. We reserve the right to change fees with reasonable notice.

9. Termination

9.1 Your Rights

You may close your account at any time using the account deletion feature in settings or by contacting our support team.

9.2 Our Rights

We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent or illegal activity, your use harms our Services or other users, or as required by law.

9.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to use the Services immediately ends; we may delete your User Content (subject to legal requirements); and provisions that should survive termination remain in effect.

10. Disclaimers

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

We disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or completeness of content, uninterrupted or error-free operation, and security or freedom from viruses. We do not guarantee that AI responses will always be accurate, that using our Services will improve your grades, or that the Services will meet your specific requirements.

11. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: AskCrates, its affiliates, and service providers SHALL NOT BE LIABLE for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages; loss of profits, data, or business opportunities; academic consequences from using our Services; or third-party content or actions. Our total liability shall not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the past 12 months or €100 / $100. Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on liability, so these limitations may not apply to you.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless AskCrates from any claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Services, your User Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of others—including any claim that your User Content infringes a third party's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property or rights.

13. Dispute Resolution

13.1 Informal Resolution

If you have a dispute, please contact us first at info@askcrates.com to attempt to resolve it informally.

13.2 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Switzerland, without regard to conflict of law provisions.

13.3 Arbitration

For users outside the EU: Any disputes may be resolved through binding arbitration rather than in court, except for small claims. For users in the EU: You may bring claims in your local courts per EU consumer protection laws.

14. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated Terms with a new "Last Updated" date, notify you of material changes via email or in-app notification, and provide a reasonable time before changes take effect. Your continued use after changes constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, you must stop using our Services.

15. General Provisions

15.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and AskCrates.

15.2 Severability

If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect.

15.3 No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right does not constitute a waiver of that right.

15.4 Assignment

You may not assign these Terms. We may assign our rights and obligations without restriction.

15.5 Force Majeure

We are not liable for delays or failures due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

16. Contact Information

For questions, concerns, or notices regarding these Terms (AskCrates is built and owned by Aquilup):

Aquilup
4123 Allschwil, Schweiz
info@aquilup.com

17. Compliance with EU and U.S. AI Regulations

17.1 EU AI Act

AskCrates classifies its tutoring assistant as a limited-risk AI system under the EU AI Act. We provide upfront transparency that clearly distinguishes AI answers from human guidance, and offer students, parents, and educators the ability to pause AI features, request human review, or delete AI outputs.

17.2 U.S. AI Policy Frameworks

In the United States we align with Executive Order 14110, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and the AI Bill of Rights by providing clear user controls for data sharing, personalization, and consent revocation. You agree to use the Services in a manner that supports these compliance measures. Contact info@askcrates.com for regulatory questions.