Terms of Service

3.1 AI-Curated Financial News Platform

alphai aggregates market-moving news and exposes it through several surfaces:

• A free news feed sourced from public publishers via GDELT and enriched by AI (per-article summary, category, relevance score 1–10, and per-ticker impact analysis).
• A public REST API at api.alphai.io, with tiered hourly rate limits.
• An MCP server at mcp.alphai.io for AI agents and trading bots, accessed via OAuth 2.1.
• Personal watchlist and ticker news alerts (paid tiers).
• Embedded TradingView charts on stock pages — for reference only, not analysis we produce.

3.2 Data Sources

Our Service aggregates news article metadata from public publishers via GDELT (Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone) and enriches articles using OpenAI. We surface AI-generated summaries and per-ticker analysis; the full original article body is not redistributed via the website, REST API, or MCP server. Original publisher links are preserved on every article page so you can read the source.

3.3 Service Availability

We aim for high availability of the Service and may perform maintenance, updates, and modifications at any time. The Free and Basic tiers are best-effort and offered without uptime guarantees; Pro and Enterprise tiers may have additional service-level commitments as described on our pricing page or in a separate written agreement. Scheduled maintenance will be communicated in advance when possible.

4.3 Regulatory Compliance

• We are not licensed as an investment advisor or broker-dealer
• Our Service is not regulated by financial authorities as investment advice
• Always consult qualified financial professionals before making investment decisions
• Ensure your use of our Service complies with local securities laws

5.1 Account Creation

You may create an account using:

• Email address and password
• Google OAuth authentication

5.2 Account Security

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials
• All activities that occur under your account
• Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized access
• Using strong, unique passwords; we recommend signing in with Google for stronger account protection.

5.3 Account Information

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to update such information to maintain its accuracy.

6.1 Subscription Tiers

We offer the following subscription tiers:

• Free ($0) — unlimited news on the website, 10 calls/hour on REST API and MCP, 1 API key, watchlist of up to 10 tickers.
• Basic ($2.99/month or $29.99/year) — ad-free, unlimited watchlist, 10 ticker news alerts, 100 calls/hour on REST API and MCP.
• Pro ($9.99/month or $99.99/year) — 1,000 calls/hour on REST API and MCP, 5 API keys, bulk + historical endpoints, 50 ticker news alerts.
• Enterprise — contact us at /contact for custom volume, SLAs, and team accounts.

The live tier matrix is shown on alphai.io/pricing and may be updated periodically.

6.2 Payment Processing

• All payments are processed securely through Stripe
• We accept major credit cards and digital payment methods
• Prices are displayed in your local currency where supported by Stripe Checkout. The final charge currency is shown at checkout.
• Prices may vary by region due to local taxes and fees

6.3 Billing Cycles

• Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis
• Your subscription automatically renews unless cancelled
• We reserve the right to change prices with 30 days' notice
• Continued use after price changes constitutes acceptance

6.4 Taxes

You are responsible for all taxes, fees, and duties associated with your subscription, except for taxes based on our net income.

6.5 Free Tier

• The Free tier on the website is unlimited (no daily article cap) — this supports our discoverability strategy.
• The Free tier on REST API and MCP server is capped at 10 calls/hour and is intended as a probe / evaluation allotment, not for production workloads.
• Anonymous traffic on /api/news/* is additionally throttled to 60 requests/minute per IP to deter scraping.
• Free tier comes with a single API key. Generating multiple accounts to evade quotas is prohibited (see §8.2).

7.1 Cancellation

• You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings
• Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period
• You retain access to paid features until the end of the billing period
• No partial refunds are provided for unused portions of billing periods

7.2 Refund Policy

• We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time paid subscriptions
• To request a refund, email info@alphai.io within 30 days of your initial purchase. Refunds are processed manually within 5–10 business days, returning to the original payment method.
• Renewal charges (after the first paid period) are not eligible for the money-back guarantee; cancel before the next billing date to avoid them.
• Accounts with history of abuse or chargebacks may be ineligible for refunds.

7.3 Account Termination

We may terminate accounts that:

• Violate these Terms of Service
• Engage in fraudulent or illegal activities
• Abuse or misuse the Service
• Fail to pay subscription fees

8.1 Permitted Uses

You may use our Service for:

• Personal investment research and analysis
• Educational purposes and learning about financial markets
• Business analysis within your organization

8.2 Prohibited Activities

You may NOT:

• Resell, redistribute, or commercialize our data or insights
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract our algorithms
• Scrape, extract, or systematically download our content
• Share account credentials with multiple users
• Use the Service for illegal activities or market manipulation
• Circumvent usage limits or access restrictions
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers

8.3 API Usage Limits

• Subscription tiers include specific REST API and MCP rate limits (see §6.1) and key counts.
• Exceeding limits returns 429 Too Many Requests; sustained abuse may result in temporary suspension.
• Bulk and historical endpoints are available on the Pro tier and above.
• Reselling, redistributing, or republishing news content extracted via the API/MCP — including AI-generated summaries and per-ticker analysis — is prohibited regardless of tier.

8.4 Public REST API and MCP Server Terms

The REST API (api.alphai.io) and MCP server (mcp.alphai.io) are subject to the rules above and these additional terms:

• Authentication: REST uses an Authorization: Bearer ak_live_… API key; MCP uses OAuth 2.1 with Dynamic Client Registration and PKCE (S256). API keys must not be shared between accounts; OAuth credentials must not be transferred between users or organisations.
• Permitted use: building AI agents, trading bots, dashboards, internal research and monitoring tools.
• Prohibited: sharing API keys or OAuth credentials, evading rate limits via key rotation or multiple accounts, distributed scraping, reselling responses as a competing news data feed, or republishing AI summaries or analysis under your own brand without attribution to alphai.
• Service level: Free and Basic tiers are best-effort and offered without uptime guarantees. Pro and Enterprise add priority support and (for Enterprise) negotiated SLAs.

9.1 Our Rights

We own all rights to:

• The platform software and underlying technology
• Our prompts, enrichment pipelines, and the resulting AI-generated summaries, categories, relevance scores, and per-ticker analyses we produce
• User interface design and user experience
• Trademarks, logos, and brand materials
• Aggregated and processed data insights

9.2 Third-Party Sources

• News article metadata is sourced from public publishers via GDELT and is subject to those publishers' terms.
• Embedded TradingView charts on stock pages are provided by TradingView under their own terms.
• You may not redistribute or resell content originating from these third-party sources, beyond what is permitted by their respective licenses.

9.3 User Content

• You retain ownership of content you provide
• You grant us a license to use your content to provide the Service
• You represent that you have rights to any content you provide

9.4 News Content & Source Attribution

• News article metadata (title, snippet, link to original) is sourced from public publishers via GDELT.
• Original copyright remains with the publishers. We provide AI-generated summaries and analysis based on these articles, not full-text reproduction.
• Links to original sources are preserved on every article page in the website, REST API, and MCP responses.
• The full article body used internally for AI prompts is not exposed via the website, REST API, or MCP server.

10.3 Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising from:

• Your use of the Service
• Investment decisions made using our platform
• Violation of these Terms of Service
• Violation of applicable laws or regulations

11.1 Privacy Policy

Our collection, use, and protection of your personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

11.2 Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, but cannot guarantee absolute security. You acknowledge the inherent risks of internet transmission.

11.3 GDPR Compliance

For users in the European Union, we comply with GDPR requirements. You have rights regarding your personal data as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

12.1 Service Changes

We reserve the right to:

• Add, modify, or remove features
• Update our enrichment prompts and analysis methods
• Change data sources or providers
• Modify subscription plans and pricing

12.2 Terms Updates

• We may update these Terms periodically
• Material changes will be communicated via email or platform notice
• Continued use constitutes acceptance of updated Terms
• You may terminate your account if you disagree with changes

13.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Bulgaria, without regard to conflict of law principles.

13.2 Jurisdiction

Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of Sofia, Bulgaria. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of these courts.

13.3 Alternative Dispute Resolution

Before pursuing legal action, we encourage:

• Direct communication to resolve disputes amicably
• Use of online mediation platforms for cost-effective resolution