BrainBank ("BrainBank," "we," "us," or "our") is an AI-powered study platform for finance, accounting, and economics students. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain language, what information we collect when you use our website and services (the "Service"), why we collect it, how it's used, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. We wrote this to actually be read, not just filed away — if any part of it is confusing, that's on us, and you're welcome to reach out and ask.
By creating an account or otherwise using BrainBank, you're agreeing to the practices described here. If you don't agree with something in this policy, please don't use the Service, or contact us first so we can talk it through.
We collect information in three ways: what you give us directly, what we collect automatically as you use the Service, and what other users contribute that relates to you (like a comment on your submission).
When you sign up, we collect:
This is the section we want to be most upfront about. When you ask BrainBank's AI tutor a question — whether typed text, an uploaded image, or a document — that content is sent to our AI systems to generate an answer, and may be stored on our servers associated with your account. We may use stored questions and answers to:
We do not currently sell chat content to third parties, and we do not use it for advertising. If our practices around AI training change in a way that materially affects you, we'll update this policy and, where required by law, ask for your renewed consent.
Please avoid including sensitive personal information you wouldn't want stored (like financial account numbers, Social Security numbers, or health information) in your questions — BrainBank's AI tutor only needs your academic question to help you, not your personal financial details.
If you use the Train BrainBank feature to upload tests, quizzes, or practice exams, we collect the file itself, any text or answers our AI extracts from it, and metadata like the subject and file name. See Section 4 for how submitted content may become part of a shared knowledge base.
When you use the Service, we (and our infrastructure providers) automatically collect:
If another student comments on, likes, or otherwise interacts with content you've submitted, that activity is stored and may be visible to you and others, as described in Section 4.
In plain terms, we use your information to:
We do not use your information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you without human review.
BrainBank's AI tutor is currently powered by Anthropic's Claude API. When you send a message in chat or submit a file for validation, that content is transmitted to Anthropic's servers to generate a response. Anthropic processes this content under its own privacy and data-use terms as our AI service provider; we do not control Anthropic's infrastructure, but we have agreements in place limiting how Anthropic may use data sent through the API.
If we ever add or switch to other AI providers (including open-source or self-hosted models), we will update this section to reflect exactly which providers process your data and how.
We may separately store your questions and BrainBank's answers in our own database (see Section 1.2), independent of whatever retention policy the underlying AI provider has.
A core part of BrainBank is a community-built knowledge base of finance, accounting, and economics questions, contributed by students like you. Here's exactly how that works, and what becomes public:
Do not submit or upload material you don't have the right to share — for example, copyrighted textbook content or an exam you were told to keep confidential by your school or professor. You are responsible for the content you submit, and by submitting it you're representing to us that you have the right to share it and that it can be made public.
Some of these community features may be temporarily unavailable or gated behind a "coming soon" notice as we continue building them. This policy describes how they work when active.
We don't sell your personal information to advertisers or data brokers. We do share information with:
BrainBank primarily uses your browser's local storage (not traditional tracking cookies) to keep you signed in, remember your conversation history, chat preferences, and layout settings on your own device. This data stays in your browser and is tied to your account session.
Our authentication and hosting providers may use small amounts of cookie-like data to keep your session secure. We do not currently use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
We keep information for as long as it's needed for the purposes described in this policy, specifically:
We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including encrypted password storage, encrypted connections (HTTPS) between your browser and our servers, and access controls limiting who can view account data. No system is perfectly secure, though, and we can't guarantee absolute security — if we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we'll notify you as required by law.
Regardless of where you live, we offer everyone the following controls over their information:
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or a U.S. state with a comprehensive privacy law (such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, or others), you may have additional rights under laws like the GDPR or state privacy statutes, including the right to object to or restrict certain processing, and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Contact us and we will honor applicable rights regardless of where the underlying law technically requires it.
BrainBank is intended for college and university-level students and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are between 13 and 18, you should have a parent or guardian's permission to use BrainBank, since creating an account involves submitting personal information. If we learn that we've collected information from a child under 13 without appropriate consent, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child has provided us information in violation of this policy, please contact us.
BrainBank's infrastructure providers may process and store information in the United States and other countries. By using the Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in a country other than your own, which may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as BrainBank's features change. If we make material changes, we'll update the "Last updated" date above and, where required by law or where the change significantly affects how your data is used, provide more prominent notice (such as an email or an in-app banner). We encourage you to review this page periodically.
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your information, please reach out through the contact options listed on our site. We'll do our best to respond promptly and plainly — no legal runaround.