Was introduced to a new-to-me web service the other day. As with many, it was “Al” related. So I did my usual… I went to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to see what is going on behind the marketing.

In this case, the TOS was not all that… good. So, took at look at the developer’s site and any TOS/privacy policy notes there. This was better. But also concerning.

The SASS product is meant to be a creative tool. However, its usage boiled down to “you can look at what you create and that’s it.” Downloading, modifying, copying, making derivative work, etc. all prohibited. So… what is the point of a generative art service when all you can do is look at it?

For the company, the point for them is a means to (freely) update their models. They get some additional workers, some validation, and hopefully good enough PR for investors and such. But, if you use that service, ethically and legally, what do you get? Nothing except a view of what your earnest incantations (prompts) create.

What’s the moral? Read the TOS and privacy policies for everything. Don’t just throw them into a summary-service/GPT script to make it make sense either. You need to know the details for what it says. And especially of you might be using those services in regions where rules are different. Just because you pay for it, doesn’t mean you aren’t the product either. Pay attention… folks aren’t always making stuff to serve you - their aims aren’t always aligned with your needs.