ADA

We at Academic Digital Advisor (ADA) ("we", "our", or "us") respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our academic planning and AI assistant services.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

A. Authentication Information

Identity Information: We receive your name and LAU email address from your institution's login portal upon successful authentication. We do not collect or store your password.

B. User-Provided Academic Data

Academic History: The course codes you provide, either by manual entry or by uploading a digital transcript for parsing. We do not store course names or grades.
Academic Profile: Your selected major and any academic preferences you set within the service.

C. Interaction and Usage Data

AI Chat Data: The questions and prompts you submit to the AI chatbot and the responses it generates.
Course Planning Data: The courses and sections you select are processed to generate schedules; the schedules you generate and any constraints you apply (e.g., "no classes on Wednesday") are not stored.
Technical Data: Standard log data, including browser type, IP address, and interaction timestamps, to monitor and improve the service.

2. Legal Basis for Processing Your Information

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

To Fulfill Our Contract With You: We process your account and academic data to provide the planning services you requested, as outlined in our Terms of Use.
For Our Legitimate Interests: We process usage analytics and chat data to improve our service, ensure security, and fix bugs, provided these interests do not override your fundamental rights to privacy.
With Your Consent: Where required by law, we will ask for your explicit consent before processing data for certain purposes (e.g., non-essential cookies).

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information for the following purposes:

To Generate Course Recommendations: We use your Academic History and Profile to determine which courses you are eligible for and which are required for your degree.
To Build Schedules: We use your Course Planning Data to create potential weekly schedules for upcoming semesters.
To Answer Your Questions: We use your Chat Data and may use relevant Academic Data as context to provide accurate answers through our AI chatbot.
Provide Academic Planning Services: To offer personalized course recommendations, schedule planning tools, and academic guidance
AI Assistant Functionality: To power our intelligent chat interface and provide contextual academic support
Personalization: To tailor course suggestions and planning tools to your specific academic profile and goals
Service Improvement: To enhance our planning algorithms, user interface, and overall user experience
Security and Authentication: To verify your identity, protect your account, and ensure secure access to our services
Technical Support: To troubleshoot issues and provide customer support

4. Data Storage and Security

Data Storage

Database: All data is stored in a secure database with our hosting provider. We apply strict security measures, including encryption of data both in transit and at rest.
Authentication: Your login sessions are managed securely with encrypted tokens
Real-time Data: Chat conversations are processed and stored securely in our database

Security Measures

Encryption: All data is encrypted in transit and at rest
Access Control: Row-level security policies ensure users can only access their own data
Authentication: Multi-factor authentication through your organization's secure login system
Session Management: Secure session handling with automatic expiration

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information. We may share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

With AI Service Providers (OpenAI): To power the chatbot, we send your questions and necessary context (which may include anonymized parts of your academic data) to our AI provider, OpenAI. As stated in our agreement with them, they are prohibited from using this data to train their models. Please see Section 9 for more details.
Service Providers: With trusted third-party services that help us operate our platform (e.g., hosting, analytics)
Legal Requirements: When required by law or to protect our rights and safety
Academic Institutions: We will only share your academic planning data with your educational institution if you use a specific feature to do so and explicitly authorize that specific transfer. This ensures you maintain complete control over what is shared.
Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of the transaction

6. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our services:

Account Data: Retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period after deactivation
Chat History: Stored to provide conversation continuity and improve our AI assistant
Course Planning Data (schedules and constraints): Not stored

7. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information
Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal requirements)
Portability: Request transfer of your data to another service
Opt-out: Choose not to receive certain communications or use specific features

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address provided in the 'Contact Us' section below.

8. Children's Privacy

Our services are designed for higher education students and academic professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Our services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. By using our service, you represent that you are at least 18 years old.

9. Third-Party AI Services (OpenAI)

Our AI assistant functionality is powered by the OpenAI API. To provide this service, we send your chat messages and relevant academic context to OpenAI for processing.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy with AI

Your Data is Not Used for AI Model Training: We use OpenAI's business API, which has a zero data retention policy. This means OpenAI will not use any of your data to train their models or improve their services.
Data Processing: Your data is processed solely to generate a response to your immediate request and is not stored by OpenAI afterward, except for short-term caching for operational continuity and abuse monitoring for a maximum of 30 days, after which it is deleted.
Academic Privacy: Your academic information and course planning data remain completely private and are not shared with OpenAI beyond what's necessary for generating responses to your specific questions.

By using our AI chat feature, you acknowledge that your data will be processed by OpenAI for the sole purpose of providing you with a response under these strict privacy terms. For more details, you can review OpenAI's API data usage policies.

For example, if you ask 'What math course should I take next?', we may provide the AI with a list of math courses you have already completed from your academic history to generate a relevant and accurate answer.

10. International Data Transfers

Your information may be processed and stored in countries other than your own. We ensure that all data transfers comply with applicable data protection laws and implement appropriate safeguards to protect your information.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Updated" date above. Your continued use of our services after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: charbelrb@proton.me
Support: For technical support and general inquiries
Data Requests: For exercising your data rights