Version 2 · Last updated: 14 October 2026
These Terms of Use are an agreement between you and CTO Teachings LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“CTO Teachings”, “we”, “us”). They cover the CTO Teachings Assistant, our inbox app at assistant.ctoteachings.com (“Assistant”). How we handle your personal information, including the mail we receive from Gmail, is described separately in the Assistant Privacy Policy. Assistant accounts are separate from any other CTO Teachings product.
Please read Section 17 carefully. It says that most disputes between you and us will be decided by individual arbitration rather than in court, that you give up the right to bring or join a class action, and that you give up the right to a jury trial. It also explains how you can opt out of arbitration within 30 days.
You accept these terms by signing in to or using Assistant. If you do not agree, do not use Assistant.
We may change these terms. When we make a change that affects your rights or obligations, we will update the date at the top of this page and, where the change is significant, tell you in Assistant or by email before it takes effect. If you do not accept a change, you may stop using Assistant and ask us to delete your account. Continuing to use Assistant after a change takes effect means you accept it.
When we change these terms in a way that matters, we raise the version number at the top of this page and ask you to accept the new version in Assistant before you can keep using it. Accepting it, or continuing to use Assistant after you accept it, means the new version applies to you.
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract. If you use Assistant for an organisation, you confirm that you are allowed to accept these terms for it.
You may not use Assistant if the law where you live forbids it, or if we have previously closed your account for breaking these terms.
You sign in with a Google account. You are responsible for what happens under your account, so keep your sign-in secure, and tell us at [email protected] if you think someone else has used it. One account is for one person.
Assistant connects to a Gmail account you choose, with read access granted through Google, and keeps the mail that arrives in its inbox. Your own AI assistant (for example Claude or ChatGPT), connected to Assistant, sorts that mail by how much it matters to you, following rules you write in your own words, and may draft replies. If you choose to reply from Assistant, it asks Google for permission to send, and sends only the replies you press Send on. Some of this is still being built; features that are not available yet say so on screen.
“Your Material” means your mail, your sorting rules, the replies you write or send, and anything else you give Assistant.
Your Material stays yours. You give CTO Teachings a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, copy, process and transmit Your Material only as needed to run Assistant for you, including making it available to the AI assistant you connect and sending the replies you choose to send. This licence ends when you delete Your Material or your account, except for copies we must keep by law.
What you promise us. You confirm that you are entitled to connect each mailbox you connect and to have its mail processed as these terms and the privacy policy describe, and that doing so does not break any agreement you have with anyone else, including your employer.
Our app. Assistant itself, including its software, design, prompts and branding, belongs to CTO Teachings or its licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use Assistant under these terms.
Feedback. If you send us ideas, suggestions or other feedback about Assistant, we may use it for any purpose, without restriction and without paying or crediting you.
Priorities, reasons and draft replies in Assistant are produced by artificial intelligence, not by a person, and no person reviews each one. We do not control what an AI generates. It may misjudge how important a message is, hide something you needed to see, or draft a reply that is wrong or inappropriate.
You decide what is sent. Assistant never sends a reply you did not press Send on. Read every reply before you send it. You are responsible for every message sent from your account, and for not relying on Assistant alone for anything time-critical. Do not rely on Assistant for legal, medical, financial or other professional advice.
You agree not to use Assistant, or to have an AI assistant use it, to:
You also agree not to misuse Assistant: do not try to get around its security or limits, access it through automated means other than the AI-assistant connection we provide, overload or disrupt it, reverse engineer it except where the law expressly allows it, or resell it without our written permission.
We may refuse or remove anything in Assistant that breaks these terms or that we think could harm you, other people or Assistant. We are not obliged to monitor what is created. We may suspend or close your account, or limit what you can do, if we reasonably believe you have broken these terms or the law, or to protect others or Assistant. Where it is appropriate and lawful, we will tell you why.
If you see Assistant being used to break these terms, or something in it contains someone’s personal information that should not be there, email [email protected] with the subject line “Assistant report”. We review every report.
You can disconnect Gmail in Assistant at any time, and remove Assistant’s access from your Google Account. To delete your account and Your Material, email [email protected] from the address on your account. We then delete your account and Your Material, except for anything we must keep by law. Replies you already sent are in their recipients’ hands; deleting your account does not recall them.
Assistant is free to use today. If we introduce paid features, we will tell you the price before you are charged, and you will not be charged without agreeing to it.
Assistant works with services run by other companies, including Google (sign-in and Gmail) and the AI assistant you choose to connect, such as Claude or ChatGPT. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and policies, and you agree to follow them. We are not responsible for them, or for their availability.
Your AI assistant is your choice. The AI assistant you connect to Assistant (for example Claude or ChatGPT) is a third-party service that you chose and that you control. You are responsible for what it does with the access you give it, including every action it takes through Assistant, and we are not liable for its actions, its mistakes or its availability.
Assistant is a young product and it changes often. We may add, change or remove features, and we may suspend or stop offering Assistant, in whole or in part, at any time. We are not liable to you for doing so.
Your own risk. You use Assistant at your own risk. It may mis-sort or hide mail, miss a message, misjudge how urgent something is, or draft a wrong reply, and Google may change or stop the Gmail access Assistant depends on. You remain responsible for reading your own mail, answering it and meeting your own deadlines. We are not liable for a missed message, a missed deadline or a reply you sent.
ASSISTANT AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, CTO TEACHINGS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT PROMISE THAT ASSISTANT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, THAT ANY CONTENT WILL BE ACCURATE OR SUITABLE, OR THAT YOUR DATA OR DOWNLOADS WILL NEVER BE LOST.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, CTO TEACHINGS AND ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL OR OPPORTUNITY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, ASSISTANT OR ANY CONTENT, EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THEY WERE POSSIBLE.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR ASSISTANT IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR ASSISTANT IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) US$100.
Some places do not allow some of these limits. Where that is the case, they apply only to the extent the law allows. Nothing in these terms limits liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
RELEASE. To the fullest extent the law allows, you release CTO Teachings and its affiliates, members, managers, employees, contractors and agents from all claims, demands and damages of every kind, known and unknown, arising out of or relating to any dispute between you and anyone else, including the people and organisations you email or who email you, Google, and the provider of your AI assistant, and to anything your own AI assistant does with the access you give it. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” You also waive any similar law of any other state or country, to the extent you can.
To the extent the law allows, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless CTO Teachings and its members, managers, employees, contractors and agents from any claim, demand, loss, liability, damage or expense (including reasonable legal fees) brought by a third party that arises out of or relates to Content you or your AI assistant created or submitted, your use or misuse of Assistant, or your breach of these terms or of the law.
We may take over the defence of any claim you must indemnify us against, at your expense, and you will cooperate with us in that defence. You may not settle any such claim without our written consent.
Talk to us first. Before starting an arbitration or a lawsuit, you and we each agree to try to resolve the dispute informally. The person with the dispute must send a written notice to the other: you send yours to [email protected], and we send ours to the email address on your account. The notice must give your name and the email address on your account, describe the dispute, and say what you want. If the dispute is not resolved within 60 days after the notice is received, either of us may start an arbitration. Any time limit for bringing the claim is paused during those 60 days.
Meet with us personally. If we ask within the 60 days, you (and your lawyer, if you have one) will take part personally in an informal call or video meeting with us to try to resolve the dispute. This applies to each person’s claim separately, even if several people are represented by the same lawyer. Completing the notice and, if asked, the meeting is a condition of starting an arbitration, and an arbitration started without them may be dismissed or paused.
Agreement to arbitrate. You and CTO Teachings agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these terms, Assistant or any Content, including whether it must be arbitrated, will be resolved by final and binding arbitration on an individual basis, except as described under “Exceptions” below. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect when the arbitration starts, available at adr.org. A single arbitrator will decide the dispute. The arbitration is seated in Colorado; unless you and we agree otherwise, a hearing may take place by video or telephone, and where the AAA rules give you the right to an in-person hearing near where you live, you keep that right. Payment of filing, administration and arbitrator fees is governed by the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitrator may award any individual relief a court could award, but only to the individual party seeking it and only to the extent needed to resolve that party’s own claim. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction. This agreement to arbitrate is governed by the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act.
Mass arbitration. If 25 or more demands for arbitration raising similar claims are filed against or by CTO Teachings by, or with the help of, the same or coordinated lawyers or organisations (a “Mass Filing”), they will be administered under the AAA’s Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules where those apply, and in stages. First, each side’s lawyers select 10 of the demands (20 in total) to be filed, administered and decided; only those 20 incur filing, administration and arbitrator fees. The remaining demands are not treated as filed, and no fees are owed for them, until that first stage is finished; they then proceed in later stages of up to 50 demands at a time in the same way, unless you and we agree otherwise. Any time limit for bringing a claim in a Mass Filing is paused from the date its notice of dispute is sent until its stage is filed. A court, not an arbitrator, decides any dispute about whether this paragraph applies, and may enforce it, including by stopping the filing or administration of demands, or the assessment of fees, that do not follow it.
No class actions. YOU AND WE EACH AGREE THAT CLAIMS MAY BE BROUGHT ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims or preside over any form of class, collective or representative proceeding.
No jury trial. YOU AND WE EACH GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY for any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms, Assistant or any Content, including any dispute that ends up in court.
Exceptions. Either of us may bring an individual claim in a small-claims court if it qualifies there and stays there. And CTO Teachings may go to court to protect its intellectual property, to stop misuse of Assistant, or to seek an injunction or other urgent equitable relief, without first arbitrating.
You can opt out. You may opt out of this agreement to arbitrate by emailing [email protected] with the subject line “Assistant arbitration opt-out” within 30 days after you first accept these terms. Include your name and the email address on your account, and state that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other part of these terms, and it does not affect any other arbitration agreement you have with us.
If part of this section fails. If the class-action waiver above is found unenforceable for any claim, then that claim, and only that claim, must be decided by a court as described in Section 18, and never by class arbitration; any remaining claims are still arbitrated individually, and the court case waits until the arbitration is finished. If any other part of this section is found unenforceable, the rest of it still applies.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, except that Section 17 is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Any dispute that is not arbitrated, including a claim that falls under an exception or for which you have opted out, will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Colorado, and you and we consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. If you live in a country whose law gives you the right to bring a claim in your own courts, or to the protection of its consumer laws, these terms do not take that right away.
To the extent the law allows, any claim arising out of or relating to these terms or Assistant must be started within one year after the claim arises. Otherwise it is permanently barred.
These terms, together with the Assistant Privacy Policy and any terms shown to you inside Assistant, are the whole agreement between you and us about Assistant. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we do not enforce a right, we have not given it up. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours, including as part of a merger, sale or reorganisation of our business. Sections 5, 6, 10 and 12 to 20 survive the end of your use of Assistant. These terms are written in English; if we provide a translation and the two differ, the English version controls.
Questions about these terms, a content report, or a legal notice: email [email protected] or use our contact page. CTO Teachings LLC, a Colorado limited liability company.