Terms of Service

Welcome to The Thinker's Lounge. By accessing or using this website, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please do not use the app.

1. What This App Is

The Thinker's Lounge is an AI-powered reflective conversation and journaling platform. It offers conversations with 12 fictional mentor characters, each inspired by a recognized school of psychological thought, and a private journaling tool.

The mentors are fictional characters. They do not represent, simulate, or speak for any real person, living or deceased. Their names, personalities, and perspectives are original creations inspired by psychological traditions, not portrayals of the historical figures associated with those traditions.

2. What This App Is Not

The Thinker's Lounge is not therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. It is not a substitute for professional mental health care. The mentor characters are powered by artificial intelligence and do not hold degrees, licenses, or clinical qualifications. Their responses should not be treated as professional psychological, medical, or therapeutic advice.

The Thinker's Lounge is not a crisis service. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact one of these resources immediately:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (available 24/7)
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)

Do not rely on this app for emergency support. The AI mentors are not trained crisis counselors and cannot provide the help you need in an emergency.

3. AI-Generated Content

All mentor responses are generated by artificial intelligence (currently the MiniMax API). This means:

• Responses may contain inaccuracies, generalizations, or information that does not apply to your specific situation.
• Responses are not reviewed by a human before being shown to you.
• The quality, tone, and helpfulness of responses may vary.
• Responses should be considered as reflective prompts and conversation, not as diagnoses, treatment plans, or professional recommendations.

You are responsible for how you interpret and act on any information provided through the app.

4. Who Can Use This App

You must be at least 13 years old to use The Thinker's Lounge. If you are between 13 and 18, we encourage you to use the app with the awareness of a parent or guardian. By using the app, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, you must be at least 16 years old to use this app, or have verifiable parental consent.

5. Your Responsibilities

When using The Thinker's Lounge, you agree to:

• Use the app for personal reflection and self-exploration, not as a replacement for professional care.
• Not rely on AI-generated responses for medical, legal, financial, or emergency decisions.
• Take responsibility for any data stored in your browser (journal entries, chat history). We cannot recover this data if it is lost.
• Not use the app to generate harmful, abusive, threatening, or illegal content.
• Not attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the source code, system prompts, or AI configurations of the app.
• Not use automated tools, bots, or scripts to access the app or its API endpoints.

6. Your Data

Your privacy matters to us. Please read our Privacy Policy for full details on how data is handled. In summary:

• Journal entries are stored in your browser's local storage, on your device only.
• Chat history is stored in your browser's session storage and is deleted when you close the tab.
• Our server does not store, log, or retain any of your conversations or journal entries.
• When you send a message to a mentor or share a journal entry for reflection, that text is transmitted to a third-party AI service (MiniMax) to generate a response.

You are responsible for backing up any journal entries you wish to keep. We cannot recover data lost due to browser updates, cleared storage, or device changes.

7. Intellectual Property

Our content: The Thinker's Lounge, including its design, code, mentor characters, mentor names, character descriptions, system prompts, and all original text and visual elements, is the property of its creator. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from these materials without permission.

Your content: Any journal entries, chat messages, or other content you create while using the app remains yours. We do not claim ownership of your writing. Because your content is stored locally in your browser, we do not have access to it unless you explicitly share it with a mentor for reflection.

8. Limitation of Liability

The Thinker's Lounge is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not warrant that:

• The app will be available without interruption or error.
• AI-generated responses will be accurate, complete, appropriate, or helpful.
• The app is suitable for any particular purpose, including mental health support.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising from your use of the app, including but not limited to damages resulting from:

• Decisions or actions you take based on AI-generated responses.
• Loss of data stored in your browser.
• Interruptions in service or API availability.
• Any emotional distress related to conversations with AI mentors.

9. Third-Party Services

The app relies on third-party services including the MiniMax API (AI responses), Formspree (feedback form), Google Fonts (typefaces), and Google AdSense (advertising). These services have their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the practices or availability of these services.

10. Advertising

The Thinker's Lounge may display advertisements provided by Google AdSense or other advertising partners. These ads may use cookies and similar technologies as described in our Privacy Policy. We strive to ensure that advertising does not interfere with your experience, but we do not control the specific ads that are displayed.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Your continued use of the app after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms. If we make significant changes, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you through the app.

12. Termination

We reserve the right to restrict or terminate access to the app for any user who violates these Terms of Service or uses the app in a manner we determine to be harmful, abusive, or disruptive. Because the app does not require an account, termination may take the form of IP-based access restrictions.

13. Governing Law

These Terms of Service are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the app will be resolved in the courts of the State of Colorado.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please reach out through the feedback form on our Settings page.