Don’t waste time reading T&Cs -- AI can do it for you

Be honest now, do you really read T&Cs, privacy policies, etc when signing up to a service? Of course you don’t, you just scroll to the bottom and click Accept, trusting that you haven’t just handed over your first born child to a social media mogul.

Step forward Termzy AI, an AI tool that can scan those pesky T&Cs for you and alert you to any problematic things lurking in there that you might be agreeing to.

“We all skip reading T&Cs and Privacy Policies online, but that blind acceptance comes at a cost,” says Termzy founder Giulio Pavesi. “Without realizing it, users are often agreeing to the sale of their data to third parties, exposing themselves to risks like spam, doxxing, profiling, and data redlining.”

Over time, companies have come to rely on users ignoring these documents, embedding unbalanced terms that overwhelmingly favour the service provider. Termzy AI aims to change that by offering quick, accessible insights into what users are really agreeing to, restoring agency to the individual in the digital space.

Inspired by the Public AI course at the University of Amsterdam, Termzy AI represents a new kind of use case for AI, one that prioritizes public good and digital rights. The tool automatically highlights relevant clauses and summarizes key legal points in plain language within seconds, providing an overall evaluation of the policy.

“The Public AI course challenges students to apply their cultural studies and technical skills to critically engage with real-world applications of AI,” says Dr Houda Lamqaddam, assistant professor of Cultural Data Analysis at UvA. “Termzy AI went a step further by building a working browser extension that addresses the long-standing issue of opaque and exploitative terms and conditions. This project is a wonderful example of what interdisciplinary practice can bring to our students -- and the world.”

Termzy AI is available now as a free plugin for the Chrome browser.

Image credit: Termzy AI