Terms of use(English)

T&C’s - Terms of Use | Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen

This English version of the Terms of Use is provided here for your convenience. Please keep in mind that binding are only the Terms of Use in the German language.

Terms of Use for Image-AI

§ 1. Introduction

§ 1.1 Welcome to our Image-AI Service (the “Service”). By using the Service, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions ("Terms"). The Terms govern the business relationship between the platform operator (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Platform Operator’) and the users (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Users’) of ImageAI.

§ 1.2 Platform Operator is the GWDG; Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen.

§ 1.3 The Terms apply as of in the version valid at the time of registration of Users. The Platform Operator might update those Terms anytime in the future.

§ 1.4 Please read these Terms carefully before using the Service. By using the Service you aknowledge that you have read and agreed on these Terms.

§ 2. Service Description

§ 2.1 The Service refers to the Application Programming Interface (ImageAI API) and WebUI provided by the Platform Operator (GWDG) to signed-in Users of AcademicCloud as set out following.

§ 2.2 The Service provides Users with the ability to:

Generate images from prompts: Utilize AI technology to generate images from user input prompts.

§ 2.3 Service Specification: The Service is composed of the following parts:

Processing User Prompts and Parameters: This part processes prompts input by users along with their desired parameter settings for image generation.
Function: We provide a web server via the GWDG ESX service that hosts a WebUI. Users can log in via SSO and interact with the system through a user interface.

§ 3. Rights and obligations of users

§ 3.1 Users are entitled to use the platform within the scope of the usage permission and in accordance with these Terms of Use. Any use deviating from this requires a special permission.

§ 3.2 The Users are obliged to:

provide accurate and lawful user prompts for processing by the Service.
ensure that their use of Service does not violate any applicable laws, regulations, or rights of others.
ensure that their use of Service is pursuant to these Terms, in conjunction to the Terms of Use of Academic Cloud, where User’s specific rights and obligations are stipulated. The latter can be found here: AcademicCloud: Terms of Use.
not misuse the Service in any way that could harm, disable, overburden, or impair the Service.

§ 4. Prohibitions

§ 4.1 Users are prohibited from using this service for transmission, generating, and distributing content (input and output) that:

depicts child pornography or sexual abuse, including the falsification, deception or imitation thereof,
is sexually explicit and used for non-educational or non-scientific purposes,
is discriminatory, promotes violence, hate speech or illegal activities,
violates data protection laws, including the collection or dissemination of personal data without consent,
is fraudulent, misleading, harmful or deceptive,
promotes self-harm, harassment, bullying, violence and terrorism,
promotes illegal activities or violate intellectual property rights and other legal and ethical boundaries in online behavior,
attempts to circumvent our security measures or take actions that willfully violate established policies,
unfairly or adversely affects individuals, particularly with respect to sensitive or proprietary characteristics,
processes sensible data or confidential information where the legal requirements are not met.

§ 4.2 Users are prohibited from doing activities including:

Reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling the technology,
Unauthorized activities such as spamming, malware distribution, or disruptive behaviors that compromise service quality,
Modifying, copying, renting, selling, or distributing our service,
Engaging in tracking or monitoring individuals without their explicit consent.

§ 4.3 In case that any uncertainties occur regarding security or data protection within the service, please contact the data protection officer at the mailbox support@gwdg.de with the title “Datenschutz ImageAI”.

§ 4.4 For research purposes, usage scenarios under § 4.1 may be permitted in certain cases. Written agreements must be concluded between Users and the GWDG for such cases limited to specific purposes of use.

§ 5. AI Output

§ 5.1 By using the Service, Users are aware that the output is AI-generated. The Service uses advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to generate images from user prompts and process user instructions and parameters.

§ 5.2 However, the AI-generated outputs may not always be accurate, complete, or reliable. The Users acknowledge and agree that:

The AI function of image generation is intended to support users, but shall not be used on its own to accomplish critical tasks.
The accuracy of the AI-generated content may vary depending on factors such as the quality of the input, the complexity of the language, selected parameters and of instructions, and the context.
The risk of ‘Hallucinations’ is present in the Service, such as in most AI-Systems that perform generalized and various tasks. In this sense, the images generated by the AI may contain false or misleading information presented as facts.
The risk of bias also exists with the service. The outputs generated by the AI could be biased due to the training data.
Human oversight and control measures by Users are deemed necessary to ensure that the output is reliable and that it corresponds to your input prompt.

§ 6. Privacy and Data Security

§ 6.1 We are committed to protecting Users’ personal data. By using the service, Users consent to the collection, use and storage of data in accordance with our Privacy Notices.

§ 6.2 The GWDG Data Protection Notice as well as the Academic Cloud Privacy Notice can be found here:

§ 7. Intellectual Property

§ 7.1 The Platform Operator owns all intellectual property rights in the Service, including but not limited to software, algorithms, trade secrets and AI-generated content. Users are granted a limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable license to use the Service for the intended purposes.

§ 7.2 Users are required to adhere to copyright and proprietary notices and licenses, preventing the unauthorized distribution or reproduction of copyrighted content. The platform operator reserves the right to remove or block any content believed to infringe copyrights and to deactivate the accounts of alleged infringers.

§ 8. Liability of Users of Service

§ 8.1 The Users are liable for all damages and losses suffered by the Platform Operator as a result of punishable or unlawful use of the Service or of the authorization to use the Service, or through a culpable breach of the User’s obligations arising from these Terms.

§ 8.2 Users shall also be liable for damage caused by use by third parties within the scope of the access and usage options granted to them, insofar as they are accountable for this third-party use, in particular if they have passed on their login credentials to third parties.

§ 8.3 If the Platform Operator is held liable by third parties for damages, default or other claims arising from unlawful or criminal acts of the Users, the Users shall indemnify the Platform Operator against all resulting claims. The Platform Operator shall sue the Users if the third party takes legal action against the Platform Operator on the basis of these claims.

§ 8.4 Users shall be solely liable for the content they upload and generate themselves (User-generated-content) through the use of ImageAI. In this sense, Platform Operator does not bear any liability for violations of law occurring by such content.

§ 9. Liability of Platform Operator

§ 9.1 The Platform Operator does not guarantee that the Service will function uninterrupted and error-free at all times, neither expressly nor implicitly, and hereby rejects this. The loss of data due to technical faults or the disclosure of confidential data through unauthorized access by third parties cannot be excluded.

§ 9.2 The Platform Operator is not liable for the contents, in particular for the accuracy, completeness or up-to-date validity of information and data or of the output; it merely provides access to the use of this information and data.

§ 9.3 The Platform Operator maintains a mere technical, automatic and passive stance towards the content contributed by Users and does not play any active role in controlling, initiating or modifying that content and therefore cannot be held liable for cases where such content is unlawful.

§ 9.4 The Platform Operator shall only be liable in the event of intent or gross negligence by its employees, unless material duties are culpably breached, compliance with which is of particular importance for achieving the purpose of the contract (cardinal obligations). In this case, the liability of the Platform Operator is limited to the typical damage foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the mutual contract of use, unless there is intent or gross negligence.

§ 9.5 User claims for damages are excluded. Exempted from this are claims for damages by users arising from injury to life, physical integrity, health or from the breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations), as well as liability for other damages based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by the platform operator, its legal representatives or vicarious agents. Essential contractual obligations are those whose fulfillment is necessary to achieve the objective of the contract.

§ 10. Termination of Access

§ 10.1 The Platform Operator reserves the right to suspend or terminate the access of Users to the Service at any time, without notice, for any reason, including but not limited to the breach of these Terms.

§ 11. Final Provisions

§ 11.1 The Terms shall remain binding and effective in their remaining parts even if individual parts are legally invalid. The invalid parts shall be replaced by the statutory provisions, where applicable. However, if this would constitute an unreasonable burden for one of the contracting parties, the contract as a whole shall become invalid.

§ 11.2 Inquiries regarding these Terms can be communicated as following:

Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen
Burckhardtweg 4
37077 Göttingen
Deutschland
Tel.: +49 551 39-30001
E-Mail: support@gwdg.de

By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms.