Terms of Service

1. Who these terms apply to

Penpal is provided to schools. A school’s use is governed by its subscription agreement with us, and where that agreement and these terms differ, the agreement prevails. These terms also apply to the teachers and students to whom a school gives an account, and to visitors to this website.

2. Accounts

Accounts are created by schools. Nobody can sign up on their own. Keep your password to yourself and tell your school if you think someone else has used your account. Your school can change or close your account at any time.

3. Acceptable use

When you use Penpal, you agree:

• to hand in work that is your own;
• not to try to get around limits such as the number of checks, or to reach another person’s or another school’s data;
• not to interfere with, overload, copy or reverse-engineer the service;
• not to upload anything unlawful, harmful or that you have no right to use;
• to use Pally for questions about your task, the subject and Penpal. Pally is a language helper. It is not a counsellor and cannot help with personal problems.

4. AI features

Penpal’s AI points out the kind of problem it sees and is designed not to write or correct the work for you. Its feedback and marks can be wrong. A teacher reviews and is responsible for every result released to a student, and once a result is released it is final.

5. Content and ownership

Students own the work they write. Schools and teachers own the assignments and materials they create. You give us permission to store and process that content only so that we can provide Penpal to the school.

Penpal itself, including its software, design, artwork, the Pally character and the content we provide, belongs to Aideate HK Ltd.

6. Availability

We work to keep Penpal available and to keep your work safe. Writing, saving and handing in do not depend on AI being available, but feedback and marking may sometimes be delayed. Penpal is provided as it is, and any commitment about availability is set out in the school’s agreement.

7. Suspension and termination

We may suspend an account that breaks these terms or puts the service or other users at risk, and we will tell the school when we do. When a school’s subscription ends, its accounts stop working, and its data is handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

8. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law. Otherwise, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to a school is limited as set out in its subscription agreement.

9. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the courts of Hong Kong have jurisdiction over any dispute.

10. Changes and contact

We may update these terms and will change the date at the top when we do. If a change is significant, we will tell schools before it takes effect. Questions about these terms can go to hello@penpal.hk.