Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated: May 6, 2026

These Terms govern your use of Colo, the research tool available at colo-sci.com. By creating an account, accessing the service, or making a payment, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree with any part of them, please don't use Colo.

Short version: Colo is a research tool that uses large language models and retrieval over biomedical literature. Outputs may be incorrect and must be independently verified before use in any consequential context. You keep the rights to what you put in; we have a limited license to run the service on your content. Disputes are handled by individual arbitration, and there is no class action. Be reasonable with it and we will too.

1. What Colo is

Colo helps researchers develop testable hypotheses by running an adversarial debate between two AI agents over retrieved biomedical literature, and then guiding the user through methods design, proposal scaffolding, and an evidence map. The service is in active development. Features, workflows, and pricing may change, and there may be outages, bugs, or unexpected behavior.

Colo is a tool for research support. It is not a source of medical advice, legal advice, diagnostic guidance, or regulatory recommendations. Any output Colo produces must be independently reviewed and verified before it is used for clinical decision-making, grant submission, publication, or any other consequential purpose.

2. Your account

To use Colo you must sign in with a valid email address. You are responsible for keeping access to that inbox secure: because we use passwordless magic links, anyone who can read your email can sign in as you. If you believe your account has been accessed without authorization, email privacy@colo-sci.com and we will help lock it down.

Accounts are for individuals. Please don't share credentials or use a single account across multiple people. You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum digital consent age in your jurisdiction) to use Colo.

3. Acceptable use

While using Colo, please don't:

Enter personal health information, identifiable patient data, or any content subject to HIPAA or similar health-privacy regulations
Enter unpublished proprietary research, trade secrets, or content subject to confidentiality obligations you don't have the right to share
Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or circumvent rate limits on the service
Use Colo to generate content for disinformation, harassment, or harm
Use Colo in a way that violates export-control laws or applicable sanctions
Attempt to extract, copy, or republish large portions of the underlying literature corpus for commercial redistribution

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules. We may also rate-limit or block specific patterns of use that threaten service availability for others.

4. Your content

You retain ownership of anything you enter into Colo: your research topics, hypotheses, chat messages, and any notes or configurations you create. By using Colo, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, process, and transmit that content solely so we can provide the service to you. This includes sending relevant content to third-party processors (Anthropic, Supabase, Stripe, Resend) as described in our Privacy Policy.

We do not use your content to train AI models. We do not sell it, license it to third parties, or use it for advertising. You can delete your content (or your entire account) at any time by emailing privacy@colo-sci.com. You may also request a copy of the data we hold about you, in a portable format, at the same address.

5. Our content and the service itself

Colo's software, design, user interface, documentation, and the curated literature corpus are owned by the service operator and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Nothing in these Terms transfers those rights to you. You receive only a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the service as intended for your personal or institutional research work.

6. AI-generated output and your responsibility to verify

Colo's debate transcripts, hypotheses, methods suggestions, proposal scaffolds, and evidence maps are generated by large language models and retrieval systems. These systems can make mistakes. They can misinterpret evidence, miscite papers, overstate confidence, hallucinate facts, or reflect biases present in their training data or in the literature itself.

You are responsible for independently verifying any claim, citation, or conclusion Colo surfaces before relying on it. Always read the underlying cited papers. Treat PMID references as pointers that need to be checked, not as vouchers. If you are preparing material for publication, grant submission, clinical use, or any context where accuracy matters, apply the same scrutiny you would to any other research assistant's draft.

You represent that you are a researcher, clinician, student, or professional engaged in bona fide scholarly inquiry, and that you have the training and judgment necessary to evaluate AI-generated literature synthesis. You acknowledge that hallucination, miscitation, and overconfident output are known limitations of large language models, and that you bear sole responsibility for verifying all Colo output before using it in any consequential context. You assume all risk associated with using Colo's output to inform research, clinical, regulatory, or publication decisions.

7. Academic integrity

You are responsible for compliance with your institution's, journal's, and funder's policies on the use of AI tools in research, writing, publication, and grant submission. You agree to disclose Colo's role in your work where required by such policies, and to follow whatever attribution or acknowledgment standards apply to your context.

We make no representation about whether using Colo is consistent with any specific institutional, journal, or funding body policy. You are in the best position to know what your context requires.

8. Service availability

Colo is provided on an "as available" basis. We don't guarantee uninterrupted access. We may take the service offline for maintenance, updates, or in response to security issues. We may also discontinue features, change pricing, or sunset the service entirely with reasonable notice.

9. Fees, subscriptions, and refunds

Colo is offered in both free and paid tiers. Current pricing, included features, and usage limits for each tier are displayed at colo-sci.com/pricing and may change with reasonable notice to existing subscribers. Material price increases will not apply to your current paid term but will apply at renewal.

Paid subscriptions are billed in advance on the cycle you select (monthly or annual) and renew automatically at the end of each cycle unless you cancel before that period ends. You can cancel at any time from your account page or by contacting privacy@colo-sci.com. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period; you keep access to paid features until then.

We do not provide refunds or credits for partial subscription periods, unused time on cancelled plans, or downgrades, except where required by applicable law. If you believe you were charged in error, contact us within 30 days of the charge and we will review the dispute in good faith.

Promotional codes and trial offers (including the COLOTESTER tester program) are provided at our discretion, may be limited in number or duration, and can be modified or revoked at any time. Codes have no cash value and cannot be combined with other offers unless we explicitly allow it.

Payment processing is handled by Stripe. By providing payment information, you authorize us (through Stripe) to charge the applicable fees to your payment method. Failed payments may result in suspension or downgrade to the free tier until payment is restored.

You are responsible for any sales tax, VAT, or other taxes applicable in your jurisdiction. Where required by law, we may collect such taxes at checkout.

10. Disclaimer of warranties

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COLO IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR AVAILABILITY. YOUR USE OF COLO IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

11. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE OPERATOR SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE COLO. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR COLO WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the service operator from any third-party claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the service, including but not limited to the use of Colo's output for clinical decision-making or publication without independent verification.

13. Feedback

We welcome feedback, suggestions, and feature requests. If you submit any of these to us, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, modify, and incorporate that feedback into the service without compensation, attribution, or any obligation to you. Feedback is not considered confidential.

14. Copyright complaints

Colo respects intellectual property rights. If you believe content available through Colo infringes a copyright you own or control, you may submit a written notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Send notice to our designated agent at privacy@colo-sci.com with the subject line "DMCA Notice" and include:

A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or someone authorized to act on their behalf
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed
Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, with information sufficient to locate it on the service
Your contact information (address, phone, email)
A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the rights holder

We will respond to valid notices in accordance with the DMCA. We may also terminate the accounts of users we determine in our discretion are repeat infringers.

15. Account termination

You can close your account at any time by emailing privacy@colo-sci.com. We may suspend or terminate accounts immediately and without refund if you violate these Terms or threaten the security or availability of the service. Upon termination, your access to Colo ends, and we will delete your content according to the retention policy in our Privacy Policy.

16. Changes to these Terms

As Colo evolves, we may update these Terms. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top and, for material changes, notify account holders by email or in-product notice before the changes take effect. Continued use of the service after changes go live means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree with a material change, your remedy is to stop using the service and close your account.

17. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Subject to Section 18 (Arbitration), any dispute that is not subject to arbitration shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

18. Arbitration and class action waiver

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights and requires individual arbitration of most disputes between you and us.

Informal resolution. Before initiating any formal proceeding, you agree to first contact us at privacy@colo-sci.com with a written description of the dispute and the relief you are seeking. We will attempt in good faith to resolve the matter within 60 days of receiving your notice. Many disputes are resolved this way.

Binding individual arbitration. If informal resolution fails, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of Colo (other than the carve-outs below) shall be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will be conducted in Texas, in English, by a single arbitrator, and judgment on the arbitrator's award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. The arbitrator, not any court, has exclusive authority to resolve any dispute about the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of this arbitration agreement.

Class action waiver. You and we each agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. You may bring claims against us only in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate or join more than one person's claims, may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding, and may award only individual relief.

Carve-outs. The following are not subject to arbitration: (a) claims for injunctive or equitable relief to protect intellectual property rights, (b) claims that may be brought in small claims court if they qualify, and (c) any claim alleging unauthorized access to or use of confidential information that requires immediate court action.

30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending us written notice at privacy@colo-sci.com with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your full name and the email address associated with your account. Opting out will not affect any other provision of these Terms.

Severability of this Section. If the class action waiver above is found to be unenforceable as to any specific claim, then the remainder of this Section 18 shall be void as to that claim, and the claim shall be resolved in court under Section 17. If any other provision of this Section 18 is found unenforceable, that provision shall be severed and the remainder of this Section 18 shall continue in effect.

19. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, labor disputes, government actions, network or power outages, or failures of third-party services on which Colo depends.

20. General provisions

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

Survival. Sections that by their nature should survive termination or expiration of these Terms shall do so, including without limitation Section 5 (Our content), Section 6 (AI-generated output), Section 10 (Disclaimer of warranties), Section 11 (Limitation of liability), Section 12 (Indemnification), Section 13 (Feedback), Section 17 (Governing law), Section 18 (Arbitration), and this Section 20.

Assignment. We may assign or transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, financing, or operation of law, with notice to you. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. Any attempted assignment in violation of this provision is void.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding your use of Colo and supersede any prior agreements or understandings on the same subject.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to do so later. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative to be effective.

Notices. We may send you notices about the service to the email address associated with your account or by posting them in the product. You may send us notices to privacy@colo-sci.com.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email privacy@colo-sci.com. We read every message and will respond within a reasonable time.