Privacy Policy

Last Update: June 2026

FirstPrinciples Inc. and FirstPrinciples Foundation (collectively, "FirstPrinciples", “we”, or “us”) value and respect your privacy. This privacy policy describes how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise process personal information when you visit our websites at https://www.firstprinciples.com/ and/or https://www.firstprinciples.org/ (collectively, the “Websites”) or use or access any other part of our services, or otherwise interact with us, including via email or any other communication channel. We partner with researchers and carry out our own research projects that blend advanced technology with fundamental science, and we provide access to our technology tools and platform (the “Solution”) through the Websites and other channels (the “Services”). For clarity, the Solution forms part of the Services.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Collection and Use of Personal Information
  • Children’s Personal Information
  • Sharing of Personal Information
  • Information About Our Websites and Services
  • Safeguards and Retention
  • Your Choices
  • Our Privacy Policies and Practices
  • Updates to the Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

How We Collect and Use Personal Information

We collect personal information that you provide directly to us through our Websites or other communication channels, as well as information that your devices provide to us automatically. When you use the Solution, we also collect the Prompts (as defined below) you enter, the responses you view, usage logs, and any feedback you choose to provide.

We may collect and use personal information when you:

  • Receive the Services, including to provide you with access, communicate with you about your use, and fulfil our contractual obligations.
  • Engage with the Solution, including to operate the Solution, respond to your Prompts, and improve performance and safety.
  • Sign up to receive marketing emails such as newsletters, offers and promotions, which we use to send you information that may be tailored to your interests and preferences.
  • Apply for a job at FirstPrinciples, which we use to process and respond to your application for current and future career opportunities.
  • Apply for a fellowship, grant or other program, which we use to confirm your eligibility, review and evaluate your application, communicate with you about it, and administer the selection and award process.
  • Attend our events, which we use to communicate with you about the event and contact you about future events.
  • Participate in our surveys or research, which we use in aggregated, de-identified form to help us understand our users and enhance our Services and Websites.
  • Contact us with a comment, question or complaint, which we use to respond to your inquiry and to improve our customer service and Services.

Services: To administer the Services, including to provide you with access, verify your identity, communicate with you about your use of the Services, and fulfil our contractual and legal obligations, we may collect your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, information about your educational background, current and former employment, volunteering activities, and research projects, and payment information. We also collect information about the device you use to access the Services, such as the name of the device, operating system, device identifiers, and browser you are using. Information collected depends on the type of device you use and its settings. 

Solution: When you use the Solution, we process the text instructions you type and any text, image, video, audio or any other files you provide (the "Prompts"), the outputs from the model (the “Output”), basic usage and device information, and any feedback you provide. We use this data to:

  • Operate and secure the Solution and Services;
  • Detect and prevent abuse or misuse;
  • Improve Solution quality and safety; and
  • Fine-tune future tools and/or train future models only if you have opted in to this setting in your account. You can switch this setting off at any time.

Please do not enter personal information into the Solution. If we become aware that personal information has been entered, we will delete it without undue delay. Chat logs are stored for up to 30 days for safety purposes and are then deleted or de-identified unless you have explicitly opted in to training, in which case the extracts retained for that purpose are stored until the relevant model is retrained.

Marketing Communications: If you sign up to receive email, SMS or other marketing communications, we will collect your name, email address and phone number to send you newsletters, offers, promotions and other information that may be tailored to your interests and preferences. You can unsubscribe or opt out at any time by following the instructions included in the communication or by contacting us using the information provided in the "Contact Us" section below. Please note that you may continue to receive transactional or account-related communications from us.

Careers: In connection with a job application or related inquiry, we collect personal information about you to evaluate your candidacy and manage the recruitment process. This may include your name, contact information (email address, mailing address, phone number), work history, educational background, professional qualifications, skills and competencies, references, and other information contained in a resumé, cover letter or similar employment-related materials you provide. If you apply through a third-party platform or job board, we may also receive your profile information from that platform. We use this information for the purpose of processing and responding to your application, assessing your suitability for current and future career opportunities, conducting background checks where permitted by law, and communicating with you about the status of your application. If you are not selected for a position, we may retain your information to consider you for future opportunities unless you request that we delete it.

Events: If you register for, attend, or participate in one of our events (including webinars, conferences, workshops, or visits to a booth at an event), we collect personal information to facilitate your participation and enhance your experience. This may include your first and last name, company name, job title, work email address, phone number, dietary restrictions or accessibility requirements (if you choose to provide them), and any other information you provide during registration or at the event. We may also collect information about your participation, such as sessions attended or materials downloaded. We use this information to communicate with you about the event, provide you with event-related materials, contact you about future events that may be of interest, and improve our event offerings. If you provide us with dietary or accessibility information, we use this solely to accommodate your needs at the event.

Surveys and Research: From time to time, we may offer you the opportunity to participate in surveys, focus groups, user testing, or other research projects. If you choose to participate, we will collect personal information about you. The specific information collected will depend on the nature of the survey or research project, and may include your name, contact information (email address, phone number), demographic information (such as age, gender, geographic location, or occupation), professional background, your opinions, preferences, and feedback, and your responses to survey questions. We will provide you with specific details regarding our information practices for that survey or research project before collecting any information from you. We use this information to understand our users’ needs and preferences, evaluate and improve our Services and Websites, develop new features or offerings, and conduct internal analysis. The information obtained through our surveys and user research is used in an aggregated, de-identified form whenever possible. We may contact you to follow up on your responses or to invite you to participate in future research opportunities.

Fellowships, Grants and Program Applications: Personal information related to our fellowships, grants and similar programs is collected by FirstPrinciples Foundation, a non-profit research organization (the “Foundation”), and may be shared with FirstPrinciples Inc. If you apply for one of these programs, the Foundation collects personal information to administer the application, evaluation and selection process. This may include your name and preferred name, contact information (email address, mailing address, phone number), citizenship or nationality, country and city of residence, educational background (including degrees, granting institutions and year of study), current role and affiliation, research areas and publication history, professional and research profiles (such as Google Scholar, ORCID, arXiv, LinkedIn, GitHub or personal websites), the content of your application responses, and any supporting materials you upload or link to (such as a CV, publication list, research proposal, budget workbook, letters of recommendation, work samples, and demonstration files or videos). The Foundation uses this information to confirm your eligibility, review, score and route your application, assign reviewers, shortlist and interview candidates, make and administer award decisions, and communicate with you about your application and our programs. We use citizenship, nationality and geographic information to understand where applicants are applying from in order to confirm that we can lawfully make an award or engage the applicant in their home jurisdiction. If you are awarded the fellowship, grant or placement in a similar program, we may also collect telemetry information regarding your use of AI tools for internal analysis purposes. Where your application includes personal information about other individuals (such as referees who provide letters of recommendation), you confirm that you have the authority to provide that information to us for these purposes.

Contact Us: When you contact us with a comment, question or complaint by email, phone or through our "Contact Us" form on the Websites, you may be asked for information that identifies you, such as your name, address and telephone number, along with any additional information we need to promptly answer your question or respond to your comment. We may retain this information to assist you in the future and to improve our customer service and Services.

We also aggregate or de-identify personal information so that it no longer identifies you and use such information to help improve our Services.

CHILDREN’S PERSONAL INFORMATION 

We do not market the Services to, and do not knowingly collect or maintain personal information from, individuals under the age of 18. We do not intend the Services for individuals under 18 years of age. We do not use personal information collected from children for marketing or promotional purposes, and we do not disclose such information to any third-party for any purpose whatsoever. No one under 18 years of age may provide any personal information to or on the Services.

If you are under 18 years of age, do not provide any information on the Websites or on or through any of the features of the Services, register on the Services, make any purchases through the Services, use any of the interactive or public comment features of the Services, or provide any information about yourself to us. If we learn that we have collected or received personal information from an individual under 18 years of age without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. 

If you believe we might have any information from or about an individual under 18 years of age, please contact us using the contact information under "Contact Us" below and we will use all reasonable efforts to delete that information.

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We do not sell or disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent, except as described below or as otherwise required or permitted by law.

  • Service Providers: Your personal information may be transferred or otherwise made available to third parties that provide services on our behalf, including our affiliates. We use service providers for services such as hosting our Websites, delivering the Solution, processing payments, providing customer and technical support, web analytics services, and providing advertising and marketing services. Our service providers are given only the information they need to perform their designated functions and are not authorized to use or disclose personal information for their own marketing or other purposes. We and our service providers may access, store and otherwise process personal information outside Canada and, for residents of Quebec, outside Quebec, including in the United States, where we or our service providers are located. For inference and log storage, we rely on cloud infrastructure in the United States.
  • Evaluation Reviewers and Committees: If you apply for a fellowship, grant or other similar program, your application and supporting materials may be shared by FirstPrinciples Foundation with FirstPrinciples Inc. and with the program lead, advisory committee members, and academic or other reviewers (who may be internal or external to the Foundation) for the purpose of evaluating, scoring, shortlisting, interviewing and selecting applicants.
  • Legal and Compliance: We and our U.S., Canadian and other foreign service providers may disclose your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order, to another organization for the purposes of investigating a breach of an agreement or contravention of law, detecting, suppressing or preventing fraud, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable U.S., Canadian or other law or legal process. This may include lawful access by U.S. or foreign courts, law enforcement or other government authorities. Your personal information may also be disclosed where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and to investigate or prevent actual or suspected loss or harm to persons or property. 
  • Contractual Purposes: We may disclose your personal information to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
  • Sale of Business: We may transfer any information we have about you as an asset in connection with a proposed or completed merger, acquisition or sale (including transfers made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving all or part of FirstPrinciples or as part of a corporate reorganization or other change in corporate control.
  • Subsidiaries and affiliates. We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide to our subsidiaries and affiliates.
  • To Prevent Harm. We may disclose your personal information if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of our employees, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
  • With Your Consent. We may also disclose your personal information with your consent.

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR WEBSITES AND SERVICE

  • Visiting our Websites: In general, you can visit our Websites without telling us who you are or submitting any personal information. However, we collect the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of all visitors to our Websites and other related information such as page requests, device identifier, screen size, browser type, operating system and average time spent on our Websites. We use this information to help us understand activity on our Websites and to monitor and improve our Websites.
  • Cookies: Our Websites use a technology called "cookies". A cookie is a small element of data that our Websites send to a user's browser, which may then be stored on the user's hard drive or the local storage of your browser so that we can recognize the user's computer or device when they return. You may set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to decline certain cookies. The Solution sets a session cookie that helps us enforce security rate limits. This cookie is not used for advertising. However, if you decide not to accept cookies from our Websites, you may not be able to use all Websites or Solution features.
  • Analytics: We may use third party analytic services, such as Google Analytics, to help us gather and analyze information about use of the Websites and the Services and user behaviour, such as the pages most frequently read, features used, time spent, search terms and other engagement data, in order to evaluate and improve the user experience, the Websites and the Services. These third parties may use cookies and other tracking technologies. For more information about Google Analytics or to prevent the storage and processing of this data, including your IP address, by Google, you can download and install the browser plug-in available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

You can also obtain additional information about Google Analytics' data privacy and security at the following links:

  • https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and
  • https://support.google.com/analytics/topic/2919631
  • Third-Party Links: Our Websites may contain links to other websites that FirstPrinciples does not own or operate. We provide links to third-party websites as a convenience to users. These links are not intended as an endorsement of or referral to the linked websites. The linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, notices and terms of use. We do not have control over such websites and therefore have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate them may collect, use, disclose, secure or otherwise handle personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

SAFEGUARDS AND RETENTION

We have implemented reasonable administrative, technical and physical measures in an effort to safeguard the personal information in our custody and control against theft, loss and unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure. We restrict access to personal information on a need-to-know basis to employees and authorized service providers who require access to fulfil their job requirements.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Services. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Websites.

In some cases, your personal information may be stored outside your region, especially if we work with third-party providers located elsewhere. In such scenarios, your information may be governed by the local laws of the jurisdiction where it is stored or accessed, including possible access by government or law enforcement agencies.

We will retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes stated in this policy, unless the law requires us to keep it for a longer period. To provide security and business continuity for the activities described in this policy, we make backups of certain data, which we may retain for up to 12 months.

YOUR CHOICES

Marketing Communications

As indicated above, if you have signed up to receive our email communications, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link included at the bottom of the email. Alternatively, you can opt out of receiving our marketing communications by contacting us using the contact information under "Contact Us" below.

Exercising Your Privacy Rights

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is not used unless it is accurate and up to date. We request that you regularly review the information you have submitted to us using the Websites and promptly notify us if any information submitted is no longer accurate or correct.

Where required by applicable law, you may have the right to access, update or rectify your personal information, correct inaccuracies in your personal information, and withdraw consent to the processing of your personal information in our custody or control, subject to limited exceptions. You may make such a request or withdraw consent by contacting us using the information set out below. We may request certain personal information to verify your identity when you seek access to your personal information.

Decision Rights

The Solution uses large language model technology to generate Output. If you believe an Output is inaccurate or harmful, contact us and we will review the chat log. Where permitted by law, you may:

  • ask for an explanation in plain language of how the Solution produced the Output;
  • contest an Output; and
  • request human review.

Do Not Track

We do not respond to “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) signals sent from your web browser. DNT signals are an HTTP header field that specifies a user’s preference about data collection. There is no consensus on how to respond to DNT signals because there is no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals, and a DNT standard has never been formally adopted. The World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) formally withdrew support of their recommendation for a standard in 2019, and while some browsers will transmit the DNT signal to our Websites, other browsers (such as Safari and Firefox) no longer support DNT signals.

Data Portability

In Quebec, you have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and to transmit that information to another controller, where technically feasible.

OUR PRIVACY POLICIES AND PRACTICES

We are committed to protecting personal information and have implemented policies and practices that govern our handling of personal information, including:

  • a privacy framework that defines the roles and responsibilities of our employees with respect to the treatment of personal information in our custody and control;
  • the designation of a Privacy Officer who is responsible for overseeing FirstPrinciples' compliance with applicable privacy legislation;
  • practices pertaining to privacy training and awareness for our employees with access to personal information;
  • policies and procedures regarding the protection of personal information, including safeguards designed to protect personal information in our custody and control against loss or theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure;
  • processes for responding to data subject requests and complaints concerning the handling of personal information in a timely and effective manner;  and
  • a framework governing the retention and destruction of personal information that is designed to ensure compliance with our legal and contractual obligations.

UPDATES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this privacy policy periodically to reflect changes to our privacy practices. We encourage you to periodically review this page to ensure you are familiar with those changes. We will indicate at the top of this privacy policy when it was most recently updated.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy or the manner in which we or our service providers (including our service providers outside Canada) treat your personal information, or to request access to or correction of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the Contact Us form on the websites or by email at: connect@firstprinciples.org or connect@firstprinciples.com.