CourseAssist Terms of Service

Effective Date: Mar 25, 2024

1. Acceptance of Terms

Thank you for choosing CourseAssist. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the CourseAssist platform, including our AI tutor and discussion board services (“Service”). By accessing or using CourseAssist, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you must not use the Service.

CourseAssist is an academic tool intended to facilitate learning and discussion. It is provided by CourseAssist, Inc. ("CourseAssist," "we," or "us"). In addition to these Terms, you agree to abide by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we handle your personal data. These Terms apply to all users of the Service, including students, educators, administrators, and visitors.

2. Eligibility

You represent that you are over the age of thirteen (13) years old in the United States, sixteen (16) years old in the European Union, or fourteen (14) years old if you live in Spain or South Korea) (the “Minimum Age”). If you are over the Minimum Age, but under the legal age of majority, your parent or legal guardian must consent to these Terms and CourseAssist’s Privacy Policy, and affirm that they accept these Terms on behalf of, and bear all legal and financial responsibility and liability for the actions of, any child between the Minimum Age and majority, and expressly ratify and confirm any acts of any such child and all users of the account.

3. User Accounts and Security

To access certain features of CourseAssist (such as posting in a course discussion or using the AI tutor), you will need to create an account. When registering, you agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information, including your name and a valid email address. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. Please choose a strong password and do not share it with others.

You must notify us immediately at support@courseassistai.com if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. CourseAssist will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to safeguard your account information. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the account complies with these Terms and all applicable laws.

4. Acceptable Use and User Conduct

We expect users to behave respectfully and lawfully. You agree that you will use CourseAssist only for its intended educational purposes and in accordance with these Terms. By using the Service, you agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities:

Engaging in any of the above conduct may result in suspension or termination of your account (see the Termination section below) and may also expose you to legal consequences. CourseAssist reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in our judgment, violates these rules, including reporting you to law enforcement authorities if your conduct is unlawful.

5. User Content and Intellectual Property

Ownership of Your Content: CourseAssist allows you and other users to post content, including questions, answers, comments, and other materials (“User Content”), in course forums or via the AI tutor interface. You retain any intellectual property rights you have in the content that you create and post on the Service. We do not claim ownership of your original contributions.

License to CourseAssist: By submitting or posting User Content on CourseAssist, you grant CourseAssist a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, reproduce, distribute, display, and adapt your content as needed to operate and provide the Service. This license allows us to, for example, display your questions to other students in your class, format your posts for different devices, or store your content on our servers. We will only use your content to support the service and for no other purposes. This license continues even if you stop using CourseAssist or your account is terminated, but we will cease to display your content publicly if your account is deleted (unless that content has been shared by others in a way that keeps it available).

No Unapproved Use: We will not use any of your User Content in public marketing materials or external promotions without your consent. Also, if your posted content contains personal data (for instance, if you mention your name or others’ information in a post), our use of that personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy and applicable law. In short, we respect the privacy and ownership of your content.

User Content Responsibility: You are solely responsible for the content you post. This means you must ensure that your posts do not violate any laws or these Terms. We do not pre-screen user submissions, and we are not responsible for what users post on the platform. However, if we become aware of content that is inappropriate or violates these Terms, we reserve the right to remove or restrict access to it at our discretion. You understand that when you use the Service, you may be exposed to content from others that you find objectionable or inaccurate. CourseAssist does not endorse any user-posted content, and we make no warranties regarding the accuracy or reliability of any information shared by users.

Feedback: If you provide us with feedback or suggestions about CourseAssist, you agree that we can use, modify, and incorporate this feedback without any restriction or compensation to you. Any feedback you offer is entirely voluntary, and we appreciate it as it helps us improve our platform.

6. AI Tutoring and Educational Use

CourseAssist includes AI-driven tutoring features designed to assist with learning. While we strive to ensure the AI provides helpful and accurate explanations, it is important to understand the limitations of this technology. The AI tutor is provided for educational assistance purposes only. We do not guarantee that every answer or piece of information the AI provides is correct or up-to-date, and it should not be relied upon as a sole source of truth or as a substitute for professional educational guidance. Always use your own judgment and double-check critical information or answers with your instructor or other reliable resources.

You agree that when interacting with the AI tutor, you will still adhere to the Acceptable Use rules (for example, not asking the AI to produce disallowed content). The AI may sometimes generate responses that are incomplete or inappropriate; if you encounter such output, please refrain from using it in a harmful manner. CourseAssist is not liable for any actions you take or do not take based on information obtained from the AI tutor. The AI feature is continually improving, but it comes with no warranty of accuracy (as further outlined in the “Disclaimer of Warranties” section of these Terms). Use it as a learning aid, not as authoritative guidance for important decisions.

7. Privacy

Your use of CourseAssist is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated into these Terms. The Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use our Service. By using CourseAssist, you consent to the collection and handling of information as described in the Privacy Policy. We encourage you to read it carefully. If you are using CourseAssist as part of a course, please also be mindful of protecting others’ privacy: for example, do not share personal details about other students without permission, as noted in our Acceptable Use section.

8. Proprietary Rights

Our Materials: Except for User Content, all content and materials available on CourseAssist (including software, text, graphics, logos, trademarks, and the overall design of the Service) are owned by CourseAssist or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to your compliance with these Terms. You may not copy, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from our proprietary content without our express authorization.

Trademarks: "CourseAssist" and our logos are trademarks of CourseAssist, Inc. You are not permitted to use these trademarks without our prior written consent, except as allowed by law.

9. Termination of Service

By You: You may stop using CourseAssist at any time. If you wish to terminate your account, you may contact us at support@courseassistai.com with a request to delete your account. Account deletion is further described in our Privacy Policy. Keep in mind that terminating your account will remove your access to the Service and may delete your user content (so make sure to save any information you need beforehand).

By Us: CourseAssist reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Service (in whole or in part) at our discretion, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms or if you engage in behavior that is unlawful, abusive, or that jeopardizes the integrity of the platform or other users’ experience. We also reserve the right to remove any User Content that we determine violates these Terms or is otherwise objectionable, without liability to you.

Upon termination of your account for any reason, your right to use the Service will immediately cease. However, certain provisions of these Terms will survive termination. These include, for example, sections regarding User Content and Intellectual Property (to the extent of the licenses granted to us), Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, and Governing Law, as well as any other clauses that by their nature should survive the termination of this agreement.

If your account was terminated by us due to a violation of these Terms, you are not allowed to create a new account to circumvent the termination.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties

CourseAssist is an innovative platform, but we need to make clear the limits of our responsibility to you. The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by law, CourseAssist and its affiliates, suppliers, and partners disclaim any and all warranties and representations, whether express, implied, or statutory, including (but not limited to) any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, quiet enjoyment, accuracy, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee that the Service will meet your requirements or that it will be available uninterrupted, secure, or error-free at all times. We make no warranty that the results obtained from the use of the Service (including any answers or guidance from the AI tutor) will be accurate or reliable.

You understand that use of the Service is at your own discretion and risk. You are solely responsible for any damage to your device or loss of data that may result from using the Service or downloading any material from it. CourseAssist does not warrant that the Service, or any content presented on the Service, is free of viruses or other harmful components.

Any advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from CourseAssist or through the Service shall not create any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms. The educational content, including AI-generated assistance, is provided for your convenience and should be verified independently. If you have specific concerns (for example, medical, legal, or academic decisions), you should consult a qualified professional rather than relying solely on information from the Service.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall CourseAssist or its parent company, affiliates, suppliers, or their respective officers, employees, agents, or partners be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenues, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or related to your access to or use of (or inability to access or use) the Service. This limitation of liability applies whether the claims are based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory, even if CourseAssist has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

In particular, CourseAssist will not be liable for any injury, loss, or damage incurred as a result of (a) any errors or omissions in any content (including user content or AI-provided information) on the platform, (b) any unauthorized access to or use of our servers and/or any personal information stored therein, (c) any interruption or cessation of transmission to or from the Service, or (d) any bugs, viruses, Trojan horses, or the like that may be transmitted through the Service by any third party. We shall not be responsible for the offensive, illegal, or inappropriate conduct of any user or third party on the Service.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages, which means that some of the above limitations may not apply to you. In those jurisdictions, CourseAssist’s liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless CourseAssist, its parent company, affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents, from and against any and all third-party claims, liabilities, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Service; (b) your User Content or any content you provide; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any applicable law or rights of another party. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you (in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim). This indemnification obligation will survive the termination of your relationship with CourseAssist.

13. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

Governing Law: These Terms and any action related to them are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. By using the Service, you agree that the laws of California will govern any dispute arising between you and CourseAssist in connection with these Terms or the Service.

Jurisdiction and Venue: In the event of any disputes or claims between us arising out of or related to the Service or these Terms that are not subject to arbitration or cannot be resolved informally, you agree that such disputes will be litigated exclusively in the state or federal courts located in California, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts. We and you waive any objection to venue in those courts, including arguments that it is an inconvenient forum.

Dispute Resolution; No Class Actions: Any dispute will be handled on an individual basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree not to bring or participate in a class, consolidated, or representative action against us.

14. Miscellaneous

Changes to Terms: CourseAssist may modify these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify users (for example, by email or by posting an update notice on the site) prior to the changes taking effect. The updated Terms will be indicated by an updated effective date at the top. By continuing to use the Service after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, please stop using the Service.

Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other legal notices we have published on the Service, constitute the entire agreement between you and CourseAssist regarding your use of the Service. They supersede any prior agreements or communications between you and us related to the Service. Any additional or different terms in any order, written or oral communication from you are void.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.

Assignment: You may not assign or transfer these Terms (or any of your rights or obligations under them) without our prior written consent. We may freely assign these Terms, in whole or in part, to a third party as part of a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or by operation of law, or otherwise. These Terms will bind and inure to the benefit of the respective successors and permitted assigns of the parties.

No Waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms will not be deemed a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future. Any waiver of any provision of these Terms will be effective only if in writing and signed by an authorized representative of CourseAssist.

Contact Information: If you have any questions about these Terms or need to contact us for any reason, please email us at support@courseassistai.com. You can also refer to our Privacy Policy for additional contact information and support channels.

Thank you for using CourseAssist. We hope our platform helps you in your educational journey by providing a safe and productive environment for learning and discussion. Happy learning!