Terms of Service

Last updated: 26 May 2026

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the services operated by Empirica Technologies Pty Ltd (ABN 76 698 226 247, ACN 698 226 247) — “Empirica”, “we”, “our”. By accessing empiricaai.org or any service we provide, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the services.

These Terms work alongside our Privacy Policy, which describes how we handle personal information.

1. The services

Empirica provides:

• Free public surfaces — /notes, /courses, /news, /rankings, /methodology, and other openly accessible pages.
• Subscription — $29/month access to all publications, full notes, and the API. Includes a 7-day free trial.
• Reports — bespoke research engagements quoted on enquiry.
• Rankings submission — a free, scored, public submission surface for original research.
• API — programmatic access for subscribers.

We may change, add, or discontinue any service. We will give reasonable notice to paying customers of changes that materially reduce the value of their subscription.

2. Eligibility

To use most services you must be at least 16 years old. The /rankings submission surface is open to researchers from age 13; submitters under 16 in the European Economic Area must have parental or guardian consent (see Privacy Policy § 10).

You confirm that any information you provide is accurate and current, and that your use of the services complies with the laws applicable to you.

3. Accounts

• You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for any activity under your account.
• Notify us promptly at empirica@empiricaai.org if you suspect unauthorised access.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, abuse the services, or pose a security risk. We will give notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy where practicable.

4. Subscription terms

• Price: $29 AUD per month (or local-currency equivalent shown at checkout). Pricing may change with at least 14 days' notice to existing subscribers, taking effect at the next renewal.
• Trial: 7 days free. Your card is authorised at signup; charged at the end of the trial unless you cancel first.
• Renewal: Subscriptions auto-renew monthly unless cancelled.
• Cancellation: Cancel any time from your account page. Access continues until the end of the current billing period.
• Refunds: Outside the trial, we do not provide pro-rata refunds for unused subscription time. This does not affect any non-excludable rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law (see §13).

5. Reports and engagements

• Report engagements are governed by the individual quote and statement of work we provide in response to your enquiry. The quote, once accepted in writing (email confirmation is sufficient), becomes part of these Terms for that engagement.
• Deliverable timelines are best-effort estimates. We will notify you promptly if a delivery date is at risk.
• Payment is due as set out in the quote — typically 50% on commencement, 50% on delivery.
• For reports, refunds are not available after work commences, except where required by the Australian Consumer Law.

6. Acceptable use

When using the services, you agree NOT to:

• Use the services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms.
• Scrape, harvest, or extract content at scale beyond what our robots.txt permits, or use automation to circumvent rate limits, paywalls, or authentication.
• Resell, redistribute, or sublicense subscription content or API outputs without prior written permission.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code or model weights from our services.
• Submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, infringes third-party rights, contains malware, or violates our Privacy Policy (e.g. personal information without consent).
• Interfere with the operation of the services, attempt to gain unauthorised access, or probe for vulnerabilities outside a coordinated disclosure process.
• Misrepresent your identity, affiliation, or the origin of any content you submit.

7. User submissions (Rankings)

When you submit research via /rankings:

• You retain copyright in your work.
• You grant Empirica a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, store, format, distribute, and excerpt your submission for the purposes of operating the service (including publication on /rankings, inclusion in our digest emails, cross-platform distribution, and quoting in our public communications about the service).
• You attest that the submission is your original work or properly licensed; that it does not contain personal information about third parties, NDA material, or copyrighted creative content; and that you are at least 13 years old (and have parental consent if under 16 in the EEA).
• You may request takedown at any time by emailing empirica@empiricaai.org. We will action requests within 7 days; cached and syndicated copies may persist outside our control.
• We may decline or remove any submission that fails our validator rubric, violates these Terms, or that we reasonably consider unsuitable. Editorial decisions are final.

8. API terms

• The API is for use by subscribers in their own products and workflows. Fair-use rate limits apply (currently 60 requests per minute per key; we may adjust this).
• Do not share your API key. Each subscription tier permits one active key.
• You may not use the API to build a competing service that re-publishes our research output as a primary feature.
• Attribute Empirica when displaying API-derived content in a public surface (e.g. “Source: empiricaai.org”).

9. Intellectual property

• Empirica's code, agent designs, validator rubrics, methodology, branding, and original research outputs are owned by us or licensed to us. Subscribers may use the content for their own internal research; redistribution requires permission (see §6 and §8).
• You retain all rights in content you submit. We use it only as described in §7.
• Third-party content (e.g. cited papers, news excerpts) remains the property of its respective owners.

10. Research is information, not advice

Empirica publishes research and analysis for informational and educational purposes. Nothing on empiricaai.org constitutes personal financial, legal, medical, or investment advice. You should obtain independent professional advice tailored to your circumstances before acting on anything you read here.

Past performance of any model, strategy, or projection described in our research does not guarantee future results.

11. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the services are provided “as is” and “as available”. Except as required by the Australian Consumer Law (see §13), we do not warrant that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or fit for any particular purpose, and we disclaim all implied warranties to the maximum extent permitted by law.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the services is limited to the fees you have paid us in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or AUD $100, whichever is greater.

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages (including loss of profits, revenue, data, or business opportunity), even if advised of the possibility.

These limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted by law. Nothing in this section excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law.

13. Australian Consumer Law

Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)). Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies those guarantees, or any other rights or remedies that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

Where we are permitted by law to limit liability for a breach of a consumer guarantee, our liability is limited (at our option) to: (a) re-supplying the relevant service; or (b) refunding the price paid for the relevant service.

14. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Empirica Technologies Pty Ltd(and its directors, officers, employees, and agents) harmless from any claim, loss, liability, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your misuse of the services; or (c) content you submit that infringes a third party's rights. This indemnity does not apply to the extent caused by our negligence or wilful misconduct.

15. Suspension and termination

• You may stop using the services at any time. Cancellation of paid subscriptions is via your account page.
• We may suspend or terminate your access for breach of these Terms, for security reasons, or for legal reasons. We will give notice where practicable.
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including §9 Intellectual Property, §11 Disclaimers, §12 Limitation of Liability, §14 Indemnity, §17 Governing Law, and §19 Notices) survive.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent change. Material changes will be communicated to subscribers by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the services after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia. You and Empirica Technologies Pty Ltd submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria for any dispute arising out of these Terms.

18. Dispute resolution

Before commencing any formal proceedings, you agree to first contact us at empirica@empiricaai.org and attempt to resolve the dispute in good faith. If we cannot resolve it within 30 days, either party may proceed to formal remedies. This clause does not prevent either party seeking urgent injunctive relief from a court.

19. Notices

Notices to us should be sent to empirica@empiricaai.org. Notices to you will be sent to the email address associated with your account or, if none, posted to empiricaai.org.

20. General

• Entire agreement: these Terms (plus any quote or statement of work for a specific engagement, and the Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you and Empirica regarding the services.
• Severability: if any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder continues in force.
• No waiver: failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of that provision.
• Assignment: you may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign to an affiliate or successor in connection with a corporate transaction.
• Force majeure: neither party is liable for failure to perform due to causes beyond reasonable control.
• Relationship: these Terms do not create a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and Empirica.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email empirica@empiricaai.org.

Empirica Technologies Pty Ltd
ABN 76 698 226 247 · ACN 698 226 247
Melbourne, Australia