Ask the Ancients
Terms of Service
Last updated: 2 September 2026
Ask the Ancients (“the Service”, “we”) is operated by Amlan Pattnayak, an individual based in India, at asktheancients.app. By using the Service you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
1. What the Service is
The Service lets you converse with AI representations of historical philosophers. Answers are generated by language models constrained to passages retrieved from published translations of each philosopher’s works, with citations shown alongside. Responses are generated interpretations for education and reflection — they are not the philosophers themselves, not authoritative translations, and not professional advice of any kind (medical, psychological, legal, or financial). If you are in crisis, contact local emergency services or a crisis helpline.
2. Accounts and anonymous use
You may use the Service without an account, subject to lower usage limits. Creating an account (via Google or email, handled by our authentication provider Clerk) raises your limits and preserves your conversations across devices; conversations started anonymously are attached to your account when you sign in. You are responsible for activity under your account. You must be at least 13 years old; if you are under 18, you may use the Service only with a parent or guardian’s consent.
3. Plans, limits and fair use
Free tiers carry daily and monthly usage limits enforced server-side. The paid plan raises limits and adds features as described on the plans page; limits exist to keep shared costs sustainable and may be adjusted with notice. You agree not to circumvent limits, probe or disrupt the Service, resell access, scrape the corpus at scale, or use automated clients to send messages.
4. Payments
Paid subscriptions are sold through Dodo Payments, our merchant of record, which processes payment, tax, and invoicing; their terms apply to the payment transaction. Prices are shown before checkout and may differ by region. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled; cancelling stops the next renewal and access continues until the end of the paid period. Refunds are governed by our Refund Policy.
5. Bring your own key (BYOK)
The paid plan lets you use your own AI-provider API key. Your key is used from your browser, is not stored on our servers, and calls made with it are billed to you by your provider under your agreement with them. You are responsible for keeping your key safe and for your provider’s charges.
6. Content and intellectual property
You own the questions you write. You grant us the limited licence needed to process them (retrieval, inference, storing your history for you). You may use the responses you receive for personal, non-commercial purposes with attribution to the Service. Source texts are public-domain or licensed translations; the Service’s software, design, and curation are ours. Feedback you send may be used to improve the Service.
7. Availability and changes
The Service is provided “as is” without warranties. We may change, suspend, or discontinue features; for material changes affecting paid features we will give reasonable notice. We may suspend accounts that violate these terms.
8. Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from the Service is limited to the amount you paid us in the three months before the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for decisions you make in reliance on generated content.
9. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of India, and courts in India have jurisdiction, without prejudice to mandatory consumer protections in your country of residence.
10. Contact
Questions about these terms: support@asktheancients.app.