Terms of Service

These Terms form an agreement between you and Namu ("Namu," "we," "us") governing your access to and use of the Services. By accessing or using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

Namu is an African AI research and technology company building speech-native AI infrastructure for African languages, starting with Hausa. The Services currently include this website, our blog, and the Playground, where you can try early demonstrations of our speech recognition, speech synthesis, and language features.

Namu is an early-stage company. Products and models referenced on the Services, including any marked "in development," may not yet be publicly available, and any part of the Services — including features, availability, and accuracy — may change, be suspended, or be discontinued at any time.

You must be able to form a binding contract with Namu to use the Services, and you must comply with all laws applicable to your use. If you are using the Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Services only with the involvement and consent of a parent or guardian.

The Services may let you submit text, audio, images, or other material, including audio captured through your microphone ("Content"). You retain any ownership rights you already have in your Content.

Where a feature of the Services produces a result based on your Content — such as a transcript or synthesized speech ("Output") — Namu assigns you all of its right, title, and interest, if any, in that Output, so you may use it for your own lawful purposes, subject to these Terms.

You're responsible for your Content and for making sure you have the rights necessary to submit it. Don't submit Content that you don't have the right to share, or that contains sensitive personal information about yourself or others beyond what's necessary for the feature you're using.

Building AI for African languages depends on real speech and language data. Where a feature asks for your permission to use your Content to help develop or evaluate Namu's models, we will tell you before you provide it, and we will only use it for that purpose where you've given that permission or where the law otherwise allows it. You can withdraw your permission, and ask us to delete Content you've submitted, at any time — see our Privacy Policy.

Our speech and language models are under active development and may produce Output that is incomplete, inaccurate, or unavailable. Output may not always reflect reality, and you should independently verify it before relying on it, especially for anything important. The Services, including the Playground, are provided for demonstration and evaluation purposes and should not be relied on as the sole basis for any decision.

When using the Services, you agree not to:

• Violate any applicable law, or infringe the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any person.
• Use the Services to generate or share content that is harmful, abusive, deceptive, or that misrepresents a real person — in particular, members of the African language communities Namu serves.
• Probe, scan, reverse-engineer, or attempt to extract Namu's models, model weights, source code, or training data.
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Services, including through malicious code or unauthorized automated access.
• Misrepresent your affiliation with Namu, or use Namu's name, logo, or other marks without our permission.

Namu owns the Services and all related software, technology, and content, other than your Content and Output, and other than material owned by third parties. Except for the rights expressly granted to you in these Terms, no other rights or licenses are granted, by implication or otherwise.

The Namu name, logo, and other Namu trademarks may not be used in connection with any product or service without our prior written permission.

These Terms apply for as long as you use the Services. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Services at any time, including if we reasonably believe you've violated these Terms, to protect the Services or other users, or to comply with law. You may stop using the Services at any time. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership, disclaimers, and limitations of liability.

The Services, including all Output, are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Namu does not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any Output will be accurate or reliable.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Namu and its founders, employees, and partners will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Services, even if Namu has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Namu's total liability for any claim arising from these Terms or the Services will not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Namu and its founders, employees, and partners from any claim, loss, or demand, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your Content, your use of the Services, or your violation of these Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of [Governing law jurisdiction — to be confirmed once Namu's entity is formed], without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Before this clause is relied upon, please confirm the governing jurisdiction with counsel.

If a dispute arises from these Terms or the Services, please contact us first at legal@namuai.org so we can try to resolve it informally.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Namu regarding the Services and supersede any prior agreements between you and Namu about the Services. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. We may update these Terms as the Services evolve; continued use of the Services after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to legal@namuai.org.