Acceptable Use Policy
Summary
This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) outlines the acceptable and prohibited uses of the AI infrastructure and services provided by SharonAI (“Supplier Platform”). Our goal is to ensure the responsible, legal, and ethical use of our resources, including the Supplier Platform. All users of our services (including all contracting parties (“Customers”) and each of their respective users (including without limitation Authorised Users) (“Users”) must adhere to this AUP and all Applicable Law, including local regulations of the jurisdiction(s) in which the services are being performed or Supplier Platform is being accessed, data protection laws, export control laws and sanctions laws. Each of Supplier’s Customers shall be responsible for compliance with this AUP on its own behalf and by each of its end users from time to time (irrespective of whether such end users’ access or use was specifically authorised or permitted by the Customer).
Customers are responsible for maintaining accurate account and registration details and must not impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent their affiliation with any person or entity. Customers are responsible for safeguarding all credentials used to access the Supplier Platform and must ensure that such credentials are not shared except with Authorised Users.
This AUP is not exhaustive, and Supplier reserves its rights to take any action in respect of any matter it considers falls within the scope of this AUP in connection with the use if the Supplier Platform, regardless of whether the Content or uses are specifically described below.
1. General Principles
At all times while accessing and using the Supplier Platform or related services, all Users must:
- Comply with all applicable local, national, and international laws and regulations, directly or indirectly relating to the access and use of the Supplier Platform.
- Use the services and the Supplier Platform responsibly and ethically, ensuring their activities do not infringe upon the rights or safety of others.
- Without limiting the foregoing, ensure that their access and use of the Supplier Platform is at all times in accordance with international laws including but not limited to all applicable data and technology laws and regulations relating to data protection, privacy, online safety, cyber security and international trade compliance.
- Ensure that their use of the Supplier Platform does not exceed authorised usage limits, circumvent technical restrictions, or otherwise interfere with the fair use of the Supplier Platform by other users.
2. Prohibited Uses
Illegal Activities
- Engage in activities that are illegal under UK law or applicable international laws, or that are otherwise unlawful, harmful, infringing, offensive, discriminatory or which facilitate illegal activity or depict sexually explicit or obscene Content or cause damage or injury to any person or property.
- Facilitate or participate in fraud, deception, identity theft, or other forms of criminal activity.
- Host, share, store, access, use or create Content that violates intellectual property rights of any third party without proper authorisation, including but not limited to any rights in or to copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, privacy or publicity, and publishing Content intended to assist others in unlawfully circumventing technical measures intended to protect any such rights.
- Develop, deploy, access (intentionally, knowingly or recklessly), store, distribute or transmit any worms, Trojan horses, malware, timebombs, lock-out features or other ransomware, viruses, phishing, or hacking tools or other similar tools designed for unauthorised access, data theft, or harm to individuals, organisations, or critical infrastructure.
- Engage in activities that compromise or violate the security, integrity, or availability of Supplier’s systems, network, or other users’ services, or any other network, computer or communication system, software application, or network or computing device.
- Conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, traffic manipulation, or other actions designed to disrupt the availability of networks or services.
- Create, store, access or disseminate any Content that incites or threatens violence against any person, promotes terrorism, is intended to harass, abuse or invade the privacy of any individual, creates a risk to the physical safety or health of any individual or to public safety or health, or that threatens or encourages harm on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, serious disease or disability, or immigration status.
- Unlawfully sell or distribute any form of controlled substance, including but not limited to any illegal or prescription drugs.
- Probe, scan, penetrate, or test the vulnerability of the Supplier Platform, or breach Supplier’s security or authentication measures, whether by passive or intrusive techniques, or conduct any security or malware research on or using the Supplier Platform, without Supplier’s prior written consent.
- Any other activities or undertakings that cause, or could reasonably be likely to cause, harm to Supplier’s business, operations or reputation.
- Use the Supplier Platform for unauthorised crypto-mining or other activities that unreasonably consume or monopolise computing resources.
- Copy, modify, duplicate, create derivative works from, frame, mirror, republish, download, display, transmit or distribute all or any part of the Supplier Platform without Supplier’s prior written consent.
- Reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise reduce to human-perceivable form all or any part of the Supplier Platform (including any related object code and source code).
- Develop or deploy AI models or algorithms for unethical or prohibited purposes and practices, including but not limited to disinformation, manipulation, untargeted facial scraping, work-related emotion recognition, social scoring fraud, criminal profiling, unlawful biometric categorisation, unrestricted mass facial recognition monitoring or automated decision-making without transparency.
- Train or deploy AI applications designed for surveillance, discrimination, harassment, or violation of privacy rights.
- Engage in AI development that may contribute to social harm, including but not limited to bias in AI decision-making or reinforcement of stereotypes.
- Conduct transactions (i) with, or on behalf of, sanctioned individuals or entities or (ii) from, through or within any sanctioned territories, or develop applications that would facilitate such transactions.
- Use Supplier’s services in a manner that would violate UK or any other applicable sanctions laws and regulations, including attempts to circumvent or evade these restrictions.
- Engage in any activity that would result in Supplier being in breach of any UK or other applicable export control or sanctions laws or obligations.
- Collect, store, process, disclose or distribute personal data without proper authorisation or in violation of applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Engage in data scraping, profiling, or data mining of private individuals without explicit consent.
- Process personal data in a manner inconsistent with applicable privacy notices or lawful processing bases required under applicable data protection laws.
High-Risk AI Activities
Users must not develop, train, deploy or operate any AI model or system using the Supplier Platform that is designed or reasonably likely to:
- develop, design, or assist in the development of biological, chemical, nuclear or other weapons;
- facilitate large-scale cyber intrusion, exploitation of software vulnerabilities, or automated cyber-attacks;
- create deceptive synthetic media or deepfakes intended to impersonate individuals or organisations in a fraudulent or harmful manner;
- enable unlawful surveillance, tracking, or profiling of individuals at scale;
- otherwise create a material risk of physical harm, unlawful activity, or significant societal harm.
- Supplier may suspend or restrict workloads that reasonably appear to involve such activities.
Infrastructure Abuse
Users must not use the Supplier Platform in a manner that:
- unreasonably consumes, monopolises, or degrades shared infrastructure resources;
- circumvents resource allocation limits, technical restrictions or fair-usage mechanisms implemented by Supplier;
- interferes with the performance, reliability, or availability of the Supplier Platform or services provided to other customers;
- uses automated scripts, bots, or similar mechanisms to artificially manipulate usage metrics, benchmarking results, or system performance measurements.
3. Ethical AI Use Guidelines
Fairness and Transparency
Users shall strive to develop AI systems that are fair, transparent, and accountable. All reasonable commercial efforts should be made to minimise algorithmic bias, and any limitations or potential biases in AI models should be disclosed.
Users are expected (and may be legally required) to implement their own data privacy and security measures to safeguard personal information and comply with GDPR and other relevant data protection standards.
Non-Discrimination and Inclusivity
AI models shall not be used to discriminate against individuals based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Responsible AI Deployment
AI applications that interact with end-users shall be designed and implemented to avoid harm. Users must take responsibility for ensuring their AI systems do not deceive, manipulate, or otherwise harm individuals or society.
Responsibility for AI Outputs
Customers are solely responsible for the outputs generated by any AI systems or models deployed, trained, hosted or operated using the Supplier Platform, including any decisions, actions or consequences arising from such outputs.
Customers are solely responsible for ensuring that any datasets, models, prompts, or other inputs used in connection with the Supplier Platform:
- are lawfully obtained and used;
- do not infringe any intellectual property rights, privacy rights, database rights, or other proprietary rights of any third party;
- comply with all applicable data protection and privacy laws.
4. Monitoring
The Supplier Platform and Users’ access and use thereof may be monitored, subject to Applicable Laws, for the purposes of verifying compliance with this AUP.
Supplier reserves the right, but has no obligation (unless required by Applicable Laws and regulations and/or a lawful and mandatory request from a competent regulatory authority, law enforcement or other public agency), to investigate any suspected breach of this AUP or misuse of the Supplier Platform by any User, provided Supplier has actual knowledge or reasonable grounds to justify such investigation. In connection with such investigations, Supplier may report any activity that it reasonably suspects may violate any law or regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or other appropriate third parties.
Such reporting may include disclosing, reviewing and preserving appropriate User information consistent with applicable law. Supplier may also cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies, regulators, or other appropriate third parties to help with the investigation and prosecution of illegal conduct by providing network and systems information related to alleged violations of this AUP.
Compliance with Law Enforcement Requests. Supplier may comply with any lawful request, order, or direction from a competent regulatory authority, law enforcement agency, or court requiring the restriction, suspension, disclosure, or removal of content or workloads associated with the Supplier Platform. Supplier shall not be liable to any Customer or User for actions taken in good faith to comply with such requests.
5. Violations of AUP
Reporting Violations
If any Customer of Supplier becomes, or should reasonably become, aware of any suspected violation of this AUP, the Customer must promptly notify Supplier by providing a full explanation of the suspected violation. Supplier may request further information from the Customer and/or Customer’s assistance to help stop or remedy the violation.
Any person may report suspected violations of this AUP to Supplier at security@sharonAI.com. We will investigate such reports and take appropriate action based on our findings.
Consequences of Violations
If Supplier determines, in its good faith discretion, that any User has failed to adhere to this AUP, Supplier may take any of the following actions:
- Suspend or terminate access or use by the Customer (and all associated User’s) of the Supplier Platform and any other services, regardless of whether the violation is committed unintentionally or without the Customer’s permission.
- Remove, disable access to, or modify any offending Content or resource, as well as intercept or block any traffic to/from such offending Content or resource.
- Disclose user data (including network and systems information related to such alleged violation) to relevant law enforcement or regulatory authorities, where legally permitted or required to do so.
- Commence, institute or conduct any legal action deemed appropriate by Supplier to protect its legitimate interests.
Nothing in this AUP shall be construed as an obligation on Supplier to take any action within a specified period or with respect to any actual or suspected violation, and Supplier may exercise its rights in connection with this AUP at any time within its sole discretion.
Supplier shall not be liable for any loss, damage or liability incurred by the Customer or any User arising from Supplier exercising its rights under this AUP, including suspension, restriction or termination of access to the Supplier Platform.
6. Modifications to AUP
Supplier reserves the right to modify this AUP at any time. Changes will take effect upon posting an updated version of this AUP on our website or notifying users by email. Continued use of the Supplier Platform or any related services after any such change shall constitute acceptance by the User of the new terms.
7. Acknowledgment
By using the Supplier Platform and Supplier’s services, Users agree to this AUP and affirm their commitment to ethical, legal, and responsible AI practices.
