Privacy and your data

Who is responsible

Hence AI is run by its founder, from Canada, as a private test. If you were invited, you already have the founder's contact details; use them for any question about your data. We decide how your data is used (the “controller”).

What we collect

• What you type: your business description, company size, region, the decision you are making and any competitors you name.
• Your email, only if you pay or open an account: from the payment page or the sign-up form. An account also keeps the list of businesses you run and your credit use, and a password that we store only as a one-way scrambled value, never in readable form. Card details go to our payment provider and never reach us: we receive your email, the amount and a payment reference.
• Your feedback: thumbs up or down on a trend, the reason you pick, and a copy of the trend you rated.
• Technical data: your IP address, browser type and the pages you request, in our server logs.
• Visit events: which steps you reach (the first page, starting a briefing, the sections you open, a downloaded report) and the country you are in (looked up from your address by our network provider; the address itself is not saved with the event), with a random visit number kept in your browser and, if you came from a personal link, that link's short code. No name or email is attached. We do not use third-party analytics, and we skip this when your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
• In your browser: we save your business details and random numbers (a session number and a visit number) in your browser’s local storage, so your briefing is there when you come back and we can see which steps are used. We use no advertising cookies and no third-party trackers or analytics. Our fonts are served from our own server.

We do not ask for your name or phone number. A one-time briefing needs no account, and we ask for an email only when you pay or open an account.

Why we use it, and on what legal basis

• To make the briefing you ask for (performing the service you request; GDPR / UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
• To contact you about your purchase or account, for example your receipt or a problem with your briefing (performing the service; Art. 6(1)(b)). We do not send marketing email without your consent.
• To keep the service secure and working, for example limiting how many scans one visitor can start (our legitimate interest; Art. 6(1)(f)).
• To improve the quality of trends, using your votes (our legitimate interest; Art. 6(1)(f)). You can object at any time by deleting your data.

Trends are written by AI and checked against their sources. No decision with legal or similar effects on you is made automatically.

Who receives it

• AI language model providers: the LLM AI models that read your description and the sources, write your trends, and check whether each trend is supported and fits your business. They receive what you typed about your business and the trends.
• Search services (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo): receive search phrases built from your description. The searches come from our server, not from your device, so they do not receive your IP address.
• Cloudflare: carries the connection between your browser and our server, and so sees your IP address.
• Authorities, only if the law requires it.

Our database and its backups are stored on a computer we control. Payments are handled by our payment provider, which receives your email and card details to take the payment. Nobody else receives your data.

Data sent to other countries

Some of these services are outside your country. What they receive is a description of a business and public news articles, not information about you as a person: no name, no email, no IP address. If a description did contain personal details, it would be sent only because that is needed to make the briefing you asked for (GDPR / UK GDPR Art. 49(1)(b)). That is why we ask you to describe the business, not people.

How long we keep it

• Working copies of a briefing (trends, impact, plan): 12 to 72 hours, then deleted by a daily clean-up.
• Your saved business details and briefing history: up to 12 months, or until you delete them.
• Your votes: up to 24 months, or until you delete them.
• Shared report links: 30 days.
• Server logs (with IP addresses): replaced in rotation, normally within a few weeks.
• Visit events: 12 months, or until you delete them.
• Accounts and payment records (email, plan, credit use, payment reference): while your account is open, and payment records for as long as the law requires us to keep accounts. To close an account or ask for your email to be removed, write to us.
• Backups: 7 days, so anything you delete is gone from backups within a week.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you can ask to see the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, limit or object to how we use it, or receive a copy. You can also complain to a data-protection authority: in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada; in the EU, your national authority; in the UK, the ICO. People in California can ask what we collect and delete it; we do not sell or share personal information, and you will not be treated differently for using your rights. Similar rights apply in Canada (PIPEDA), Brazil (LGPD) and elsewhere.

The quickest way is the button below. You can also write to us; we answer within one month.

Children

Hence AI is for businesses. It is not meant for anyone under 16.

Security

Connections to Hence AI are encrypted, the database cannot be reached from the internet, and only the operator can access it. No system is perfectly secure, and Hence AI is in an early testing stage, so please keep what you type to what is needed to describe your business.

Changes

If we change how we use your data, we will update this page and its date before the change takes effect.

Contact

You were invited to this private test, so you have the founder’s contact details. Write there with any question, or use “Delete my data” above.