Terms & Privacy

1 Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the Ashram platform ("Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and ASHRAM AI SOLUTIONS LLC, DBA EARTHATECH ETHICAL AI ("Company," "we," "us," or "our").

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by updating the effective date above. Your continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

2 Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to use this Service. By registering, you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If we learn that a user is under 18, we will terminate that account immediately.

The Service is available to individuals in the United States and internationally, subject to applicable local laws and regulations.

3 Service Description

Ashram is an AI-powered platform for personal reflection, self-inquiry, and contemplative exploration. It draws from Western and Eastern philosophical traditions and presents multiple perspectives grounded in peace and compassion.

The AI companion is not clergy, a licensed therapist, or a qualified professional. We encourage you to consult qualified professionals for specialized support.

4 Account Registration

You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating your account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we believe are being used fraudulently.

5 Payments & Premium Content

Some content within the Service is available through voluntary micro-donations or one-time payments. All payments are processed securely through Stripe. By making a payment, you agree to Stripe's terms of service.

• Payments are voluntary contributions that support the platform and content creators.
• All transactions are final unless otherwise required by applicable law.
• We do not store your full payment card details — this is handled entirely by Stripe.
• You may manage or remove saved payment methods at any time through your account settings.
• We are not responsible for any fees charged by your financial institution in connection with payments.

6 User Conduct

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable law or regulation
• Harass, abuse, or harm others
• Attempt to extract, reverse-engineer, or misuse our AI models or systems
• Impersonate any person or entity
• Upload or transmit malicious code or content
• Use the Service for commercial exploitation without express written permission

We reserve the right to remove content and suspend accounts that violate these standards without prior notice.

7 Intellectual Property

All content, trademarks, logos, and technology on this platform are the property of ASHRAM AI SOLUTIONS LLC or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works without our express written consent.

You retain ownership of any content you submit. By submitting content, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to use it to operate and improve the Service.

8 Disclaimers

We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any AI-generated content. Philosophical and reflective content is intended for personal contemplation only.

9 Limitation of Liability

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from use of the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.

10 Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes shall be resolved through binding arbitration in Texas, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.

11 Termination

You may delete your account at any time through the account settings. We may terminate or suspend your access immediately, without prior notice, for conduct that we believe violates these Terms or is harmful to other users, us, or third parties.

Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately. Sections on intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and governing law survive termination.

12 Information We Collect

Information you provide:

• Email address and account credentials
• First and last name (used for personalization)
• Payment information (processed and stored by Stripe — we never store full card numbers)
• Conversation content you submit to the AI companion

Information collected automatically:

• Usage data (features accessed, session duration)
• Device type and browser information
• IP address (used for security and fraud prevention)

Information we do NOT collect:

• Date of birth (used only in memory during age verification, immediately discarded)
• Sensitive personal information beyond what is necessary for service delivery

13 How We Use Your Information

• To provide, maintain, and improve the Service
• To process payments and manage your account
• To personalize your experience (language preferences, avatar selection)
• To send transactional emails (OTP verification, account notifications)
• To detect and prevent fraud and abuse
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not use your conversation data for advertising or sell it to third parties.

14 Data Sharing

We share your data only with:

• Stripe — payment processing
• SMTP2Go — transactional email delivery
• Infrastructure providers operating under strict data processing agreements

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or the public.

15 Workspace Isolation & Data Separation

The platform uses strict workspace-level data isolation. Your data is completely separated from data belonging to other workspace communities. We enforce technical and organizational controls to prevent cross-workspace data access.

16 Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. Payment records are retained for legal and audit purposes even after account deletion. Conversation data may be retained in anonymized form for service improvement.

Upon account deletion, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within a reasonable time, except where retention is required by law.

17 Your Rights (TDPSA & General)

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction — request correction of inaccurate data
• Deletion — request deletion of your personal data (available via account settings)
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Opt-out — opt out of any data sales (we do not sell data, but this right is preserved)

To exercise these rights, contact us at the address below. We will respond within 45 days as required by the TDPSA.

18 Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS), secure authentication via Keycloak, password hashing, and network-level firewall protection. However, no system is 100% secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

19 Cookies & Local Storage

We use browser local storage and session storage to maintain your login session and preferences. We do not use third-party tracking cookies. You may clear stored data at any time through your browser settings.

20 Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by updating the effective date at the top of this document. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.