to read this ToS
Cohere's fine print is longer than you think.
🎧Longer than your Spotify Wrapped — for ALL of last year.
The 5 things you actually need to know
⏱️ Saved you 38 min 32s- 1
They can use your data to train their AI models and share it with third parties.
- 2
You agree to defend them if you break the rules or someone sues over your data.
- 3
They can change the terms anytime and you have to agree or stop using the app.
- 4
You can delete your account, but they might keep your data for a while.
- 5
They're not responsible if the service goes down or has errors, no refunds.
Generated by AI from the actual contract — but for the lawyer-level breakdown, scroll down 👇
AI training
- Severity 4
"YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ANY THIRD PARTY TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME OR SIMILAR COMMITMENTS OR PROTECTIONS AS THOSE CONTAINED IN THESE TERMS OF USE AND ANY FINETUNING DATA OR API DATA SHARED BY COHERE WITH THIRD PARTIES WILL BE ACCESSED, USED, AND OTHERWISE HANDLED BY SUCH THIRD PARTIES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS, WHICH MAY PERMIT SUCH THIRD PARTY TO USE FINETUNING DATA OR API DATA FOR ITS OWN PURPOSES."
Third parties may use your finetuning or API data for their own purposes, and their terms may offer fewer protections than Cohere's.
Your data shared with third parties might be used in ways you did not intend and with less security than you expect.
- Severity 4
"FOR CLARITY AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY IN THESE TERMS OF USE, COHERE WILL NOT SHARE A CUSTOM MODEL WITH ANY THIRD PARTY BUT MAY SHARE FINETUNING DATA USED TO FINETUNE OR TRAIN A CUSTOM MODEL WITH THIRD PARTIES. THE TERM “API DATA” MEANS CUSTOMER DATA SUBMITTED BY YOU TO THE COHERE API. THE TERM “FINETUNING DATA” MEANS CUSTOMER DATA COMPRISED OF ANY TRAINING OR FINETUNING DATA SUBMITTED BY YOU TO THE COHERE SOLUTION."
Cohere will not share a custom model with third parties, but it may share the finetuning data used to train that model with third parties.
While your custom model remains private, the data used to build it could be shared with third parties.
- Severity 4
"COHERE DOES NOT REPRESENT, WARRANT, OR COVENANT THAT IT HAS REVIEWED ANY THIRD PARTY TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY API DATA OR FINETUNING DATA SHARED WITH THIRD PARTIES. COHERE DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICE AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IF YOU CHOOSE TO SUBMIT ANY API DATA OR FINETUNING DATA TO THE COHERE SOLUTION, YOU DO SO ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK."
Cohere is not responsible for third-party terms or how they handle your API or finetuning data, and you use these third parties at your own risk.
If third parties misuse your data, Cohere offers no recourse, and you bear the full risk of any data exposure.
- Severity 3
"YOU GRANT US A NONEXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE, ROYALTY-FREE, IRREVOCABLE, SUBLICENSABLE, AND FULLY PAID-UP RIGHT TO ACCESS, COLLECT, USE, PROCESS, STORE, DISCLOSE AND TRANSMIT ANY DATA, INFORMATION, CONTENT, RECORDS OR FILES (“CONTENT”) THAT YOU LOAD, SUBMIT, TRANSMIT TO OR ENTER INTO THE COHERE SOLUTION, OR THAT YOU OTHERWISE TRANSMIT TO COHERE IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OF USE (“CUSTOMER DATA”) TO: (I) PROVIDE THE COHERE SOLUTION; (II) EXERCISE ITS RIGHTS AND PERFORM ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THESE TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING ENSURING YOU ARE COMPLYING WITH THESE TERMS OF USE, THE RESPONSIBLE USE GUIDELINES AND ANY OTHER RESPONSIBLE USE GUIDELINES WE PROVIDE TO YOU OR ARE POSTED ON THE COHERE WEBSITE; AND (III) IMPROVE AND ENHANCE THE COHERE SOLUTION AND OUR OTHER OFFERINfGS AND BENCHMARK THE FOREGOING, INCLUDING BY SHARING API DATA AND FINETUNING DATA WITH THIRD PARTIES WHO MAY USE THE FINETUNING DATA AND API DATA TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO COHERE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES PERMITTED UNDER THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS."
Cohere uses your Customer Data to provide and improve its AI solutions, including by sharing API and finetuning data with third parties for their own purposes.
Your data may be used by third parties for their own commercial purposes, potentially exposing it to risks not covered by Cohere's terms.
Auto-renewal
- Severity 1
"If you fail to provide any of the foregoing information, you agree that we may continue charging you for any use of paid services under your billing account unless you have terminated your paid services in accordance with any applicable Subscription Agreement."
Cohere may continue charging your billing account for paid services if you do not terminate them properly.
You could incur charges for services you are no longer using if you do not follow the correct termination procedures.
Price hikes
- Severity 3
"Subscription and Services options displayed on the Cohere Solution may be discontinued or unavailable for any reason, and prices are subject to change. Except where otherwise indicated, all prices do not include any applicable sales taxes, which will be added to your total purchase price. You are responsible for the payment of any provincial and local sales or use taxes that may apply to your Subscription Order."
Cohere may change prices for its solutions and discontinue offerings at any time.
The cost of the service can increase, and features you rely on may be removed without prior warning.
- Severity 2
"We will provide you no less than seven (7) days’ notice prior to implementing a change to our prices."
Cohere will notify you at least seven days before increasing prices.
You will have a minimum of seven days' notice before a price increase takes effect.
Data residency
No flags in this category.
Termination friction
- Severity 3
"You may terminate these Terms of Use at any time and with immediate effect by requesting by email that your User ID be deleted, ceasing use of the Cohere Solution and uninstalling and deleting the Cohere Solution."
You can terminate these Terms of Use immediately by requesting email deletion of your User ID, stopping use, and uninstalling the solution.
You can stop using the service and end these terms quickly by following specific steps.
- Severity 2
"For greater certainty, your termination of these Terms of Use will not automatically terminate an active Subscription Agreement and if you continue to use any portion of the Cohere Solution after these Terms of Use have been purportedly terminated by you as described above, including any use pursuant to an active Subscription Agreement, these Terms of Use will continue to apply to the extent of such use."
Terminating these Terms of Use does not automatically end an active Subscription Agreement; continued use means these terms still apply.
You must separately cancel any active subscriptions to avoid continued obligations and charges.
Liability caps
- Severity 5
"TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES OR AFFILIATES AND OUR AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, LICENSORS, LICENSEES AND SERVICE PROVIDERS AND ITS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “COHERE PARTIES”), BE LIABLE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF DATA, PERSONAL INJURY, FINES, FEES, PENALTIES OR OTHER LIABILITIES (COLLECTIVELY, “LOSSES”), IN EACH CASE, WHETHER OR NOT WE WERE ADVISED OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, RESULTING FROM OR RELATED TO THE COHERE SOLUTION OR THE INABILITY TO MAKE USE OF THE COHERE SOLUTION, OR THESE TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING, FOR CLARITY, ANY LOSSES RESULTING FROM THE ACCESS, COLLECTION, USE, PROCESSING, STORING, DISCLOSING OR TRANSMITTING OF API DATA OR FINETUNING DATA BY THIRD PARTIES."
Cohere and its affiliates are not liable for any damages, including lost profits or data, arising from your use or inability to use the solution or from third-party data handling.
You cannot recover damages from Cohere if the service fails or your data is misused by third parties.
- Severity 4
"TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH OR UNDER THESE TERMS OF USE, OR YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO MAKE USE OF, THE COHERE SOLUTION, EXCEED $100 CAD. FOR GREATER CERTAINTY, THE EXISTENCE OF ONE OR MORE CLAIMS UNDER THESE TERMS OF USE WILL NOT INCREASE THIS MAXIMUM LIABILITY AMOUNT."
Cohere's total liability related to the solution or these terms is capped at $100 CAD, regardless of the number of claims.
Your potential recovery for any issues with the service is strictly limited to a small amount.
Indemnification
- Severity 3
"You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Cohere Parties from and against any claims, causes of action, demands, recoveries, losses, damages, fines, penalties or other costs or expenses of any kind or nature including reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in connection with: your use (or the use by any third party using your User ID) of the Cohere Solution or the Services (except to the extent prohibited by law); your breach of any provision of these Terms of Use or any documents referenced herein; your violation of any law or the rights of a third party (including intellectual property rights); your Customer Data; or any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, spyware, malware, cancelbots or other similar harmful or deleterious programming routines input by you into the Cohere Solution."
You must defend and cover Cohere's costs for claims arising from your use of the solution, your breach of terms, or your data.
You are financially responsible for legal costs if your actions or data lead to claims against Cohere.
Silent term changes
- Severity 3
"Except where prohibited by applicable law, we reserve the right to change any element of these Terms of Use at any time. When we change these Terms of Use, we will: (i) place a notice on the Cohere Website and Cohere Application, send you an email, and/or notify you by some other means as required by applicable law; (ii) post a new version to the Cohere Website and Cohere Application; and (iii) update the “Last Updated” date at the top of these Terms of Use."
Cohere can change the Terms of Use at any time by posting a notice on its website and updating the last updated date.
You must regularly check for updated terms, as continued use implies acceptance of potentially unfavorable changes.
- Severity 3
"We may require you to provide consent to the updated Terms of Use in a specified manner before further use of the Cohere Solution is permitted. If you do not agree to any change(s) after receiving a notice of such change(s), you will stop using the Cohere Solution. Otherwise, your continued access to or use of the Cohere Solution after any changes to these Terms of Use indicates your acceptance of such changes."
Cohere may require your consent to updated terms before you can continue using the solution; otherwise, continued use signifies acceptance.
Failure to actively reject updated terms means you are bound by them, even if you disagree.
- Severity 3
"Except where prohibited by applicable law, we reserve the right to change any element of the Cohere Solution at any time, without notice. We may, at our discretion, suspend your access to or use of the Cohere Solution or any component thereof: (i) for scheduled maintenance; (ii) due to a force majeure event; (iii) if you are delinquent in your payment of fees to Cohere under any agreement; (iv) if Cohere believes in good faith that you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use, the Responsible Use Guidelines (as defined below) or any other responsible use guidelines we provide to you or are posted on the Cohere Website; (v) to address any emergency security concerns; or (vi) if required to do so by a regulatory body or as a result of a change in applicable law."
Cohere can change or suspend your access to the solution at any time for various reasons, including maintenance, security, or your breach of terms.
Your access to the service can be interrupted or revoked with little notice, potentially disrupting your operations.
Better alternatives
Higher-rated vendors in AI / ML that may be safer than Cohere.
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