Soul Machines Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This privacy notice (Privacy Notice) sets out the ways in which we, Soul Machines Limited (we, us, our), collect and use your personal data (your personal information) in connection with our business. It also explains what rights you have to access or change your personal data.
1.2 We are a ground-breaking high tech company of AI researchers, neuroscientists, psychologists, artists and innovative thinkers. We use artificial neural networks that combine biologically inspired models of the human brain and key sensory networks to create a virtual central nervous system that we call our Human Computing Engine (an Artificial Human).
1.3 Our Artificial Humans are not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect or maintain the personal information of children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not access our website at any time or in any manner. We will take appropriate steps to delete the personal information of persons under the age of 18.
2. ABOUT US
2.1 We are a company registered in New Zealand under company number 6014687, with our registered address as set out below.
2.2 You can contact us as follows:
Address: L1, 106 Customs Street West, Auckland, 1010 New Zealand
Email: privacy@soulmachines.com
3. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU
3.1 Information that you provide to us.
3.1.1 We will collect any information that you provide to us when you interact with any of our Artificial Humans;
3.1.2 The information you provide to us will include (depending on the circumstances):
(a) Information contained in your questions to an Artificial Human: when you interact with an Artificial Human we will collect any information that is contained in the questions that you ask the Artificial Human; and
(b) Information contained in your responses to questions from an Artificial Human: when you interact with an Artificial Human we will collect any information that is contained in the response that you give to an Artificial Human in response to its questions or responses.
3.1.3 Information we collect about you:
(a) Technical information: we will also collect certain information about how you use the Artificial Human and the device that you use to access the Artificial Human, even where you have not created an account or logged in. This might include your geographical location, device information (such as your hardware model, mobile network information, unique device identifiers), your IP address, date and type of the request, content of the request regarding the specific Artificial Human, time zone settings, access status/HTTP status code, volume of data transmitted, language settings, time zone settings, referral source, length of interaction with the Artificial Human, date and time of your interaction with the Artificial Human, operating system and interface) and similar information. This information may be collected by a third-party analytics service provider on our behalf and/or may be collected using cookies or similar technologies.
SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
“Special categories” of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. Special categories of data include details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data.
3.2 We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data. We process special categories of personal information in limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent
3.3 When you are interacting with an Artificial Human, we will ask for your explicit consent to collect and use Sensitive Personal Information about your facial features (such as your eyes, eyebrows and mouth) your facial expressions and your voice characteristics.
3.4 Information we receive from third parties
3.4.1 In certain circumstances, we will receive information about you from third parties. For example:
(a) Service providers: often, when working with third party partners and entities the information we receive about their customers has already been anonymized and your sensitive data is not included. However, in some circumstances we may collect personal information from the entity who hosts the Artificial Human and IT support provider (who may be based inside and outside the EU); and
(b) Website security: we will collect information from our website security service partners who are based inside and outside the EU, about any misuse to the Artificial Humans, for instance, the introduction of viruses, Trojans, worms, logic bombs, attacks or any other material or action that is malicious or harmful.
3.5 We do not currently process “Do Not Track” (DNT) requests, due to inconsistent implementation and enforcement across different web browsers.
4. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND RECIPIENTS OF YOUR INFORMATION
4.1 We will use your information for the purposes listed below either on the basis of:
4.1.1 performance of your contract with us and the provision of our services to you;
4.1.2 your consent (where we request it);
4.1.3 where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation; or
4.1.4 our legitimate interests (see paragraph 4.3 below).
4.2 We use your information for the following purposes:
4.2.1 To provide access to our Artificial Humans: to provide you with access to our Artificial Humans in a manner convenient and optimal (on the basis of our legitimate interest to ensure our Artificial Humans are running in the most effective and optimal manner);
4.2.2 Analytics: to use troubleshooting, testing, research and data analytics to improve our Artificial Humans and our users experiences creating aggregated and anonymised research about user’s reaction to information provided by our Artificial Humans (on the basis of our legitimate interests to develop our business);
4.2.3 Information: to provide you with the information that you ask our Artificial Humans about (on the basis of our legitimate interests in providing the right information to our Artificial Human users;
4.2.4 Improvement of our Artificial Humans: to use the information we collect about your facial features, facial expressions and voice characteristics to improve the technology behind our Artificial Humans by ensuring they are appropriately responding to user interactions (on the basis of your explicit consent for us to collect and use this information in this way);
4.2.5 Fraud and unlawful activity detection: to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorised, or illegal activity, including identity fraud (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so); and
4.2.6 Compliance with policies, procedures and laws: to enable us to comply with our policies and procedures and enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees and share your information with our technical and legal advisors (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so).
4.3 As outlined above, in certain circumstances we may use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own. Where we refer to using your information on the basis of our “legitimate interests”, we mean our legitimate business interests in conducting and managing our business and our relationship with you, including the legitimate interest we have in:
4.3.1 enhancing, modifying or otherwise improving the services and/or our business;
4.3.2 detecting and preventing fraud and operating a safe and lawful business; and
4.3.3 improving security and optimisation of our network, sites and services.
4.4 Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we make sure that we take into account any potential impact that such use may have on you. Our legitimate interests don’t automatically override yours and we won’t use your information if we believe your interests should override ours unless we have other grounds to do so (such as your consent or a legal obligation). If you have any concerns about our processing please refer to details of “Your Rights” in paragraph 8 below.
5. WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH
5.1 In connection with the purposes and on the lawful grounds described above and in addition to the recipients of your information as described above, we will share your personal information when relevant with third parties such as:
5.1.1 Our service providers: service providers we work with to deliver our business, who are acting as processors and provide us with:
(a) Artificial Human hosting services based in Australia, United States of America, Ireland;
(b) IT, system administration and security services based in New Zealand, United States of America, Canada; and
(c) legal, accountancy, auditing and insurance services and other professional advisers based in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States of America.
5.1.2 Regulators and governmental bodies: HM Revenue & Customs, regulators, governmental bodies and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and the United States of America who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances;
5.1.3 Prospective sellers and buyers of our business: any prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, only in the event that we decide to sell or buy any business or assets; and
5.1.4 Other third parties (including professional advisers): any other third parties (including legal or other advisors, regulatory authorities, courts, law enforcement agencies and government agencies) based in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States of America where necessary to enable us to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees or where such disclosure may be permitted or required by law.
5.2 If you are located inside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will not share your data with any third party who is located outside of the EEA.
5.3 We require third parties to maintain appropriate security to protect your information from unauthorised access or processing.
6. HOW WE LOOK AFTER YOUR INFORMATION AND HOW LONG WE KEEP IT FOR
See our Data Retention Policy HERE.
6.1 We operate a policy of “privacy by design” by looking for opportunities to minimise the amount of personal information we hold about you. We use appropriate technological and operational security measures to protect your information against any unauthorized access or unlawful use, such as:
6.1.1 ensuring the physical security of our offices, warehouses, data centres and other sites where we may store your personal data;
6.1.2 ensuring the physical and digital security of our equipment and devices by using appropriate password protection, multi-factor authentication and a high level of encryption;
6.1.3 maintaining a data protection policy for, and delivering data protection training to, our employees; and
6.1.4 limiting access to your personal information to those in our company who need to use it in the course of their work.
6.2 We will retain your information for as long as is necessary to provide you with the services that you have requested from us or for as long as we reasonably require to retain the information for our lawful business purposes, such as for the purposes of exercising our legal rights or where we are permitted to do. We operate a Data Retention Policy and look to find ways to reduce the amount of information we hold about you and the length of time that we need to keep it. For example, we will retain information relating to your facial features for approximately 12 months.
7. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF YOUR INFORMATION
7.1 Our company is located in New Zealand, which is outside of the EEA.
7.2 If you are located inside the EEA, we will only transfer to third parties who are also located inside the EEA.
7.3 If you are located outside the EEA, we will transfer to third parties who are also located outside the EEA.
8. A list of the countries outside of the EEA to which we may transfer your personal information (if you are located outside of the EEA) is available here: New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. YOUR RIGHTS TO THE INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU
8.1 You have certain rights in respect of the information that we hold about you, including:
8.1.1 the right to be informed of the ways in which we use your information, as we seek to do in this Privacy Notice;
8.1.2 the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes (although we do not currently use your information for marketing purposes);
8.1.3 the right to request access to the information that we hold about you;
8.1.4 the right to request that we correct or rectify any information that we hold about you which is out of date or incorrect;
8.1.5 the right to withdraw your consent for our use of your information in reliance of your consent (refer to section 2 above to see when we are relying on your consent), which you can do by contacting us using any of the details at the top of this Privacy Notice;
8.1.6 the right to object to our using your information on the basis of our legitimate interests (refer to section 2 above to see when we are relying on our legitimate interests) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground;
8.1.7 the right to receive a copy of any information we hold about you (or request that we transfer this to another service provider) in a structured, commonly-used, machine readable format, in certain circumstances;
8.1.8 in certain circumstances, the right to ask us to limit or cease processing or erase information we hold about you; and
8.1.9 the right to lodge a complaint about us to the relevant authority in your country of work or residence.
Please note that we may need to retain certain information for our own record-keeping and research purposes.
8.2 How to exercise your rights
8.2.1 You may exercise your rights above by contacting us using the details in paragraph 2 of this Privacy Notice.
8.2.2 You may contact us via the details at the top of this Privacy Notice if you wish to action any of these additional rights and we will comply with your requests unless we have a lawful reason not to do so.
8.3 What we need from you to process your requests
8.3.1 We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and to enable you to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
8.3.2 You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. We will try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
9. SHARING DATA DIRECTLY WITH THIRD PARTIES
9.1 You might end up providing personal information directly to third parties as a consequence of your interactions with our Artificial Human offered by us. We are not responsible for how such third parties use personal data provided by you.
9.2 Please be responsible with personal information of others when using our Artificial Humans. We are not responsible for your misuse of personal information, or for the direct relationship between you and others when this takes place outside of your use of our Artificial Humans.
10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE AND YOUR DUTY TO INFORM US OF CHANGES
10.1 We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will post any changes to our site.
10.2 It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us by contacting us via the contact details at the top of this Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our practices, please contact us at privacy@soulmachines.com
Soul Machines™ is a deep science and technology company fusing AI, computational brain models and experiential learning to usher in a new era of Human Experience across all digital platforms and interfaces. We are first applying our innovations to redefine customer and brand experience – through digital interfaces and applications ranging from service and support to sales and product. In the process we’ve created the world’s most human digital beings.
Leading innovators and brands are using Soul Machines™ AI HX™ Platform to create, deploy and manage new forms of digital interfaces that operate independently. They are driving the shift from transmission to interaction. From content to compelling communications and powerful emotional connections.