Terms of Service

Last updated: March 1, 2026

Welcome to VER·DICT (“we,” “us,” or “our”), operated at verdict.org. By accessing or using VER·DICT, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service (“Terms”). If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

1. Description of Service

VER·DICT is an AI-powered research platform for exploring religious, philosophical, and scholarly texts. The service includes:

A curated library of 472+ sacred and scholarly texts (public domain works)
AI-assisted research chat using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
A personal research workspace with AI writing tools
AI-generated images for research illustration
Cross-tradition convergence analysis

VER·DICT uses third-party AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to generate responses. You are interacting with artificial intelligence, not human experts.

The service is supported by subscriptions and contextual advertising (Google AdSense). Advertising is non-personalized by default and only personalized with your explicit consent via our cookie preferences banner. See our Privacy Policy for details.

2. AI Disclaimers

2.1 No Guarantee of Accuracy

AI-generated content is provided for informational and research purposes only. It is not guaranteed to be accurate, complete, or current. AI models may “hallucinate”—fabricating citations, misattributing quotes, or generating inaccurate interpretations. You must independently verify any AI-generated output before relying on it.

2.2 Not Religious, Spiritual, or Professional Advice

AI responses do not constitute religious guidance, spiritual direction, theological counsel, legal advice, medical advice, or any form of professional advice. VER·DICT is a research tool. For matters of faith, doctrine, or practice, consult qualified religious leaders, scholars, or professionals.

2.3 Religious Neutrality

VER·DICT does not endorse, promote, or denigrate any particular religious tradition, theological interpretation, or philosophical school of thought. The AI may synthesize across traditions in ways that do not reflect the authoritative teaching of any single tradition. Convergence analysis identifies thematic parallels—it does not imply theological equivalence.

2.4 AI Transparency

All chat responses are generated by AI models. AI-generated images are created by Google Gemini and should be understood as AI-generated content. We add contextual information (system prompts, retrieved text excerpts) to your queries before sending them to AI providers to improve response quality.

3. User Accounts

3.1 Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. If you are under 18, you represent that you have your parent or guardian's consent to use the service. In compliance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

3.2 Account Responsibility

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. You agree to provide accurate information during registration and to keep it current. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.

3.3 Account Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms. You may delete your account at any time. Upon deletion, your data will be removed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

4. Subscriptions and Billing

4.1 Free Tier

VER·DICT offers a permanent free tier with access to the full text library and a limited number of AI research queries per month. The free tier is not a trial—it will remain available indefinitely.

4.2 Paid Plans

Paid subscription tiers (Seeker and Scholar) will be available in the future. When launched, billing will be processed by Stripe. Subscriptions will renew automatically unless cancelled. We will provide at least 30 days' notice before any price changes. Details will be posted on our Pricing page.

4.3 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Access to paid features continues through the end of the current billing period. No refunds are provided for partial billing periods. You may downgrade to the free tier at any time and retain your data.

5. Intellectual Property

5.1 Corpus Content

The sacred and scholarly texts in our library are public domain works. While the original texts are freely available, our curation, indexing, organizational structure, section headers, and metadata are proprietary.

5.2 Your Content

You retain ownership of your inputs—questions, workspace documents, notes, and other content you create. By using VER·DICT, you grant us a limited license to process your content as necessary to provide the service (e.g., sending your queries to AI providers, storing your documents).

5.3 AI-Generated Content

AI-generated responses may not qualify for copyright protection under current U.S. law, which requires human authorship. You may use AI-generated content for personal research purposes, but you do so at your own risk regarding intellectual property claims.

5.4 Platform IP

VER·DICT and its logos, software, design, and proprietary technology are owned by us and protected by intellectual property laws. These Terms do not grant you any rights to our trademarks or branding.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Attempt to jailbreak, manipulate, or bypass AI safety controls
Conduct prompt injection attacks or attempt to extract system prompts
Use the service to generate hate speech, harassment, or discrimination targeting any religious, ethnic, or other group
Misrepresent AI-generated content as authoritative religious pronouncements, scholarly consensus, or professional advice
Use automated bots, scrapers, or other tools to access the service without authorization
Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code
Use AI outputs to create competing services
Violate any applicable law or regulation
Submit personally identifiable information, confidential data, or trade secrets in chat queries

7. Rate Limits and Fair Use

To ensure fair access, we enforce rate limits on AI queries, workspace commands, and image generation. These limits vary by subscription tier. We track token usage internally for rate limiting and abuse prevention. We reserve the right to throttle or restrict access in cases of excessive or abusive usage.

8. Third-Party Services and Consent

VER·DICT relies on third-party services to operate. Your use of VER·DICT is also subject to the terms and policies of these providers:

OpenAI — AI chat processing (Terms)
Anthropic — AI chat processing (Terms)
Google — Embeddings and image generation (Terms)
Supabase — Authentication and database (Terms)
Google Analytics / AdSense — Analytics and advertising (Terms, Advertising Features Policy)
Vercel — Hosting and analytics (Terms)
Stripe — Payment processing (Terms)

8.1 Cookie Consent

We use a consent banner to give you control over non-essential cookies and tracking. Essential cookies (authentication, core functionality) are always active. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) and advertising cookies (Google AdSense) are only enabled with your explicit consent. You may update your preferences at any time via the consent banner. For full details on cookies used, see Section 7 of our Privacy Policy.

8.2 AI Data Processing

Your chat messages are sent to third-party AI providers for processing. These providers do not use your data for model training. Provider-specific data handling, retention periods, and your rights are detailed in Section 3 of our Privacy Policy.

9. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, VER·DICT AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES ARISING FROM:

Decisions made based on AI-generated content, including religious, spiritual, philosophical, or personal decisions
Inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading AI outputs
Unauthorized access to your account or data
Service interruptions or data loss

Our total liability for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or fifty dollars ($50), whichever is greater.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless VER·DICT and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising from your use of the service, your content, or your violation of these Terms.

12. Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the service shall be resolved through binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. You waive any right to participate in class action lawsuits or class-wide arbitration.

International users: If you reside in the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, or another jurisdiction with mandatory consumer protection laws, nothing in these Terms limits or waives any non-waivable rights you have under your local law. In particular, EU and UK consumers may bring claims in the courts of their country of residence, and mandatory statutory consumer protections in your jurisdiction will apply regardless of the governing law provision above.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or by posting a prominent notice on the service at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use of VER·DICT after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

14. Termination

Either party may terminate these Terms at any time. Upon termination, your right to use the service ceases immediately. Sections 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 survive termination.

15. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at:

Legal and Terms of Service: [email protected]
Privacy and data rights: [email protected]
General inquiries: [email protected]