Terms of Service

Last Updated: August 11, 2026

ⓘ These Terms have been updated for launch. New sections cover all user types (individual learners through institutional accounts), all four AI providers, institutional and FERPA terms, LTI/LMS integration, instructor responsibilities, parent and guardian terms, social and community features, public share links, the partner and referral program, beta access, and the SLA reference.

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using the Multi-Headed Learning Engine ("MHLE," "Service," "we," "us," or "our"), operated by Cognitive Engine, Inc., you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use our Service.

These Terms apply to all visitors, users, and others who access or use the Service, including individual learners, instructors, organization administrators, institutional accounts, and parents or guardians acting on behalf of minor students.

By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 years of age, or if you are between 13 and 18, that you have obtained parental or guardian consent. For users under 13, a parent or guardian must provide verifiable parental consent before the account is activated, as described in Section 13.

2. Description of Service

MHLE is an AI-powered cognitive learning platform designed to support learners, educators, and organizations across all education levels — from elementary school through professional development. Our Service is used by:

  • Individual learners — students from elementary through graduate and professional levels, using MHLE independently or within a classroom
  • Instructors and coaches — educators who enroll students, create classrooms, observe student progress, and deliver AI-assisted analysis
  • Organization administrators — administrators who manage org-level settings, users, and reporting for a team, company, or school
  • Institutional accounts — schools, school districts, or other educational institutions that license MHLE for a group of students and instructors under a contract
  • Parents and guardians — verified parents who access the Parent Portal to monitor a minor child's learning activity

The Service includes, without limitation:

  • Multi-perspective AI analysis of educational content (notes, documents, audio)
  • Socratic coaching and AI-guided dialogue for deeper learning
  • Note-taking and course organization tools
  • Fact verification and knowledge graph visualization (Weekly Pulse)
  • Simulation and wicked-problem scenario generation
  • Document processing and extraction (PDF, audio, image)
  • Learning artifact generation (study plans, synthesis documents, concept summaries)
  • Exit tickets and formative assessment tools (Weekly Learning Cycle)
  • Pacing guides and curriculum alignment tools
  • Learning portfolios and public share links
  • Study groups and social learning features
  • Gamification features (points, streaks, learning tree stages) for middle school learners
  • LTI 1.3 integration with Learning Management Systems
  • Google Classroom integration
  • Partner and referral program participation
  • CX and enterprise health reporting dashboards for institutional administrators

3. AI-Generated Content Disclaimer

IMPORTANT: Our Service uses artificial intelligence technologies, including but not limited to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and Perplexity AI, to generate content. By using this Service, you acknowledge and agree that:

  • AI outputs may contain errors, inaccuracies, or outdated information. AI-generated content is provided "as-is" and should not be relied upon as the sole source of truth.
  • Content is for educational purposes only. AI-generated analyses, summaries, and suggestions do not constitute professional, legal, medical, financial, or academic advice.
  • No professional relationship is created. Using this Service does not establish any professional, advisory, or fiduciary relationship.
  • User verification is required. You are solely responsible for independently verifying all information before relying on it for academic work, research, or any other purpose.
  • AI may produce biased or incomplete analysis. AI models can reflect biases present in their training data and may not capture all relevant perspectives.

4. Third-Party AI Services

Our Service utilizes third-party AI providers to process and analyze your content. By using MHLE, you acknowledge that your input data may be transmitted to the following third-party AI services for processing:

  • OpenAI — Multi-perspective analysis, simulations, general text generation
  • Anthropic — Learning artifact generation (study plans, synthesis documents)
  • Google (Gemini) — Multimedia analysis, audio transcription, image processing
  • Perplexity AI — Internet-grounded fact verification (Weekly Pulse feature)
  • These third-party services have their own terms of service and privacy policies
  • We do NOT use your data to train AI models. Your content is used solely to provide the requested analysis and is not used for model training purposes by any of our AI providers
  • You should not submit sensitive personal information, confidential data, or trade secrets through the Service beyond what is necessary for the educational purpose

5. User Accounts and Responsibilities

When you create an account, you agree to:

  • Provide accurate, current, and complete information
  • Maintain the security of your password and account
  • Accept responsibility for all activities under your account
  • Notify us immediately of any unauthorized access

6. Acceptable Use Policy

You agree NOT to use the Service to:

  • Submit content that infringes on intellectual property rights
  • Generate harmful, abusive, harassing, or illegal content
  • Attempt to manipulate, jailbreak, or circumvent AI safety measures
  • Submit content containing malware or malicious code
  • Use the Service for academic dishonesty or plagiarism
  • Impersonate others or misrepresent your affiliation
  • Engage in any activity that violates applicable laws
  • Reverse engineer or attempt to extract AI models or algorithms
  • Use outputs to train competing AI systems

7. Intellectual Property

Your Content: You retain ownership of all content you submit to the Service. By submitting content, you grant us a limited license to process, analyze, and store your content solely to provide the Service.

AI-Generated Outputs: You are granted a license to use AI-generated outputs for your personal educational purposes. Note that AI-generated content may not be eligible for copyright protection in all jurisdictions.

Our Platform: The MHLE platform, including its design, features, and underlying technology, remains our exclusive property.

8. Subscription and Payment Terms

Free Tier: Basic features are available at no cost with usage limits as specified in your account dashboard.

Paid Plans: Premium features require a paid subscription. Payments are processed through Stripe and are non-refundable except as required by law.

Billing: Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis. You may cancel at any time, with access continuing until the end of your billing period.

Price Changes: We reserve the right to modify pricing with 30 days' advance notice.

Enterprise and Institutional Pricing: Schools, districts, and enterprise customers are billed under a separate Order Form or contract. Those contracts govern billing, renewal, and pricing for institutional accounts. Free and standard paid accounts have no uptime guarantee; see §16 for the SLA reference applicable to enterprise customers.

9. Institutional and Enterprise Accounts

Added August 11, 2026

This section applies to schools, school districts, and other educational institutions ("Institutions") that license MHLE under a signed contract or Order Form.

9.1 FERPA School Official Role

When contracted by an Institution, MHLE acts as a "school official" with a legitimate educational interest as defined under FERPA (34 C.F.R. § 99.31(a)(1)). In this capacity:

  • The Institution is the data controller for student education records
  • MHLE processes education records only as directed by the Institution and does not re-disclose records except as permitted by FERPA
  • The Institution is responsible for providing all required FERPA notices to students and parents, including sharing MHLE's Student Data Transparency Notice as part of their annual FERPA notification

9.2 Data Processing Agreement

Institutional customers are governed by the MHLE Data Processing Agreement (DPA), available at /docs/legal/dpa. The DPA covers sub-processor disclosures, data location, breach notification obligations, deletion timelines, and audit rights. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and the DPA on matters of data protection, the DPA takes precedence.

9.3 Institution's Responsibility as Data Controller

The Institution warrants that it has a lawful basis for sharing student education records with MHLE and that it has provided all required notices and obtained all required consents from students, parents, and guardians as required by FERPA, COPPA, and applicable state law before directing MHLE to process such records.

10. LTI and LMS Integration

Added August 11, 2026

MHLE supports LTI 1.3 integration with Learning Management Systems. By connecting an LMS to MHLE, the connecting instructor or administrator ("LMS Administrator") agrees that:

  • Data exchange scope: An LTI launch transmits the user's name, email address, LMS user ID, course context, and role (student or instructor) from the LMS to MHLE. MHLE uses this data to authenticate the user and provision their account and classroom access
  • Grade passback: If the LMS Administrator enables grade passback for an assignment, MHLE will transmit completion or score data back to the LMS on behalf of the instructor. The LMS Administrator is responsible for ensuring this is appropriate under applicable law and their institution's policies
  • Deep linking restriction: Creating or modifying LTI deep links is an instructor or administrator action. Students cannot initiate or alter LTI connections or deep links
  • Institution policy compliance: Connecting an LMS is subject to the LMS Administrator's institution's information security and procurement policies. The LMS Administrator represents that they have authority to make this connection on behalf of their institution
  • Google Classroom: The same scope and restriction principles apply to the Google Classroom integration, which is initiated and controlled by instructors or administrators only

11. Instructor and Educator Terms

Added August 11, 2026

Users who register as instructors, coaches, or organizational administrators ("Instructors") agree to the additional terms in this section.

  • Visibility of instructor-created data: Observations, rigor scores, friction alerts, and other data that Instructors create about students are visible to organization administrators within the same organization. Instructors acknowledge that their use of these tools is subject to oversight by their organization or institution
  • AI analysis of student observations: When an Instructor submits a student observation for AI analysis, the observation text is transmitted to a third-party AI provider (as described in §4) to generate summaries, suggested next steps, or impact scores. By initiating this analysis, the Instructor consents to this transmission and confirms they have authority to submit this information under applicable law and their institution's policies
  • Human judgment requirement: Instructors acknowledge that automated scores, friction alerts, and AI-generated summaries are advisory tools. Instructors are responsible for using automated data appropriately alongside human judgment and must not rely solely on automated outputs to make consequential decisions about students (grades, disciplinary actions, enrollment decisions)
  • Student data handling: Instructors who access student data through MHLE must handle that data in accordance with applicable privacy law (FERPA, COPPA, and applicable state law) and their institution's data governance policies

12. Parent and Guardian Terms

Added August 11, 2026

12.1 Parental Consent for Under-13 Accounts

When a child under 13 registers for MHLE, MHLE requires verifiable parental consent in compliance with COPPA before the account is activated. A parent or legal guardian must click a time-limited verification link sent to the parent email address provided at registration. Until consent is verified, the child's account is held in a pending state and cannot access any Service features. Accounts where consent is not verified within 7 days after the link expires are deactivated and their data is deleted.

12.2 Parent Portal Access

A verified parent or guardian can access the MHLE Parent Portal to view their child's engagement summary, health score, enrollment status, and parental consent records. Parent Portal access is scoped strictly to the parent's own child's account. Parents cannot access or modify other students' data.

12.3 Withdrawal of Consent

A parent or guardian may withdraw consent at any time by contacting privacy@mhle.app with subject "COPPA Consent Withdrawal." Withdrawal of consent will deactivate the child's account. MHLE will stop collecting new data immediately and will process deletion of existing data per the parent's instructions within 30 days.

13. Social and Community Features

Added August 11, 2026

MHLE includes study groups, group chat, and other social learning features. By participating in these features, you agree that:

  • Content visibility: Content you post within a study group (messages, shared notes, comments) is visible to all current members of that group, including instructors or administrators designated as group admins
  • Group admin moderation: Instructors and administrators who manage a group may view, moderate, and remove content from that group. MHLE reserves the right to remove content that violates our Acceptable Use Policy (§6) from any shared space
  • Stored communications: Group chat messages and shared content are stored in our database. Leaving a group does not automatically delete messages or content you previously posted in that group
  • Acceptable use in social spaces: All Acceptable Use Policy rules (§6) apply in social and community features. Content that is harmful, harassing, abusive, or illegal will be removed and may result in account suspension

14. Public Content and Share Links

Added August 11, 2026

MHLE allows users to publish notes, artifacts, and portfolio entries via a public share link. By activating a share link, you agree that:

  • Public access: The linked content becomes accessible to anyone with the link without requiring authentication. MHLE marks shared pages as noindex to discourage search engine indexing, but this is not a guarantee of privacy — the content is technically public
  • License grant: When you activate a public share link, you grant MHLE a limited, non-exclusive license to serve and display that content publicly for as long as the link remains active. This license is revoked immediately when you deactivate the share link
  • Your responsibility: You are solely responsible for ensuring that content you make public via a share link does not violate FERPA (e.g., by including other students' data without consent), copyright, or any other legal obligation
  • Revocation: You may deactivate a share link at any time from your settings. Upon deactivation, the link immediately becomes inaccessible to the public

15. Partner and Referral Program

Added August 11, 2026

MHLE operates a partner and ambassador referral program. By participating as a partner or ambassador, or by signing up via a referral link, you agree that:

  • Referral attribution: When a user signs up via a partner or ambassador referral link, MHLE records the referral attribution (UTM parameters and referral code) against the new account. This attribution is used to calculate commissions or credits under the referring party's Ambassador Agreement
  • Commission terms: Commission rates, payout schedules, and eligibility criteria for partners and ambassadors are governed by the separate Ambassador Agreement entered into at program enrollment. These Terms do not create any commission obligation in the absence of a signed Ambassador Agreement
  • No individual user data shared: Partners and ambassadors receive only aggregate or anonymized conversion data (e.g., number of signups attributed to their link). MHLE does not share the name, email address, subscription details, or any personal information of referred users with partners
  • Compliance: Partners and ambassadors must comply with all applicable laws governing referral and affiliate marketing, including CAN-SPAM, FTC endorsement guidelines, and GDPR where applicable, and must clearly disclose their affiliate relationship when promoting MHLE

16. Beta Access and Service Level

Added August 11, 2026

16.1 Beta Features

Certain features or account types may be designated as "Beta" or "Preview." Beta features are offered "as-is" without uptime commitments, support SLAs, or guarantees of continued availability. Beta features may be changed, suspended, or discontinued at any time without notice. By using a Beta feature, you acknowledge this reduced-reliability status. Terms applicable to Beta features may differ from those governing production features.

16.2 Service Level Agreement (Enterprise)

Enterprise and institutional customers are governed by the MHLE Service Level Agreement (SLA), available at /docs/legal/sla, which defines uptime commitments (99.5% monthly for the core platform), incident response times, and service credit schedules. Free and standard paid accounts have no uptime guarantee beyond commercially reasonable availability efforts.

16.3 No Uptime Guarantee for Non-Enterprise Accounts

For free and paid non-enterprise accounts, the Service is provided on a best-effort basis. Planned and unplanned downtime may occur without advance notice or liability for service credits.

17. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MHLE AND ITS AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR:

  • Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages
  • Loss of profits, data, or goodwill
  • Errors, inaccuracies, or omissions in AI-generated content
  • Academic or professional consequences resulting from reliance on AI outputs
  • Unauthorized access to or alteration of your data
  • Service interruptions or technical failures

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

18. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR COMPLETELY SECURE.

19. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless MHLE, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the Service, violation of these Terms, or infringement of any third-party rights. This indemnification obligation does not apply to losses caused by MHLE's own negligence or willful misconduct.

20. Termination

20.1 Individual Account Termination

We may suspend or terminate an individual user account at any time for violation of these Terms or for any other reason at our discretion. Upon termination of an individual account:

  • Your right to use the Service will immediately cease
  • You may request export of your data within 30 days of account termination
  • We will retain your data for 18 months after account termination or subscription end for backup, legal compliance, and dispute resolution, after which it will be permanently deleted

20.2 Institutional Contract Termination

Termination of an institutional contract is governed by the terms of the applicable Order Form or contract and the DPA. Upon institutional contract termination:

  • MHLE will stop all processing of the Institution's student data within 5 business days
  • MHLE will delete all student data (including backups) within 30 calendar days
  • A Certificate of Deletion will be provided upon written request
  • The Institution may request a data export in JSON or CSV format; export requests must be submitted at least 15 business days before the scheduled contract end date

21. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes shall be resolved through binding arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, except where prohibited by law. You agree to waive any right to a jury trial or to participate in a class action lawsuit.

Nothing in this section limits the rights of institutional customers to pursue remedies under applicable federal law, including FERPA, or applicable state education law.

22. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes via email or prominent notice on the Service. For paid and institutional accounts, we will provide at least 30 days' advance notice of any material changes by email to the registered account address. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

23. Contact Information

For questions about these Terms, please contact us: