Terms of Use & Privacy

Please read these HBS Foundry Testing Terms of Use (the “Agreement”) carefully. This Agreement is an agreement between you and President and Fellows of Harvard College (“Harvard” or “we” or “us”), acting through Harvard Business School Foundry, concerning and governing your access to and use of the Harvard Business School Foundry platform and the applications, tools, community platforms, and educational materials included therein (collectively, the “Services”) made available to you by Harvard as part of an alpha or beta testing program solely for purposes of evaluation, testing, and feedback (the “Testing”). Your participation in the Testing and use of the Services constitutes your assent to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

1. Eligibility; Participation

   You may participate in the Testing by Harvard’s invitation. You shall provide any information required by Harvard and create an account to access the Services as set forth in Section 2 below. You shall follow all instructions from Harvard to create an account for the Testing and regarding your access to and use of the Services throughout the Testing. You shall provide and maintain current, complete, and accurate information as requested by Harvard.

   Account registration and use of the Services is generally restricted to those individuals 18 years of age or older who are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties herein. By registering for or participating in the Testing or using the Services, you represent that you are 18 years of age or older and have the authority and legal capacity to enter into the Agreement. No one under the age of 13 years may participate in the Testing or access or use any Services.

   You acknowledge and agree that participating in the Testing does not constitute or grant you admission to any Harvard school or program. You shall not claim any affiliation with, or degree, diploma, or certificate from, Harvard or any Harvard school or program based on your participation in the Testing.

2. User Accounts

   In order to participate in the Testing and use the Services, you must register for a personal account on the Services (a “User Account”) by providing an email address and a password for your User Account, as well as any additional information required. You agree that you will never divulge or share access information to your User Account with any third party for any reason. You also agree that you will create, use, and/or access only one User Account, and that you will not access the Services using any User Account other than your own.

   You agree to notify us immediately upon becoming aware of or suspecting any unauthorized use of your User Account. We will not be responsible for any loss or damage arising from unauthorized access to your User Account.

3. Acceptable Use

   In connection with the Services and the Testing, you shall not:

   1. post, transmit, or make available through the Services content that: defames, harasses, discriminates against, harms, or threatens others; discusses illegal activities, with the intent to commit them or induce others to commit them; infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others, or that you do not have the right to disclose; is profane, pornographic, obscene, indecent, or unlawful; contains intentionally inaccurate information or that is posted with the intent of misleading others.
   2. use any of the Services in any manner intended to damage, disable, overburden, or impair any part of any of the Services or the computer equipment or network(s) connected to any of the Services, or to disrupt or interfere with any other user’s use and enjoyment of any of the Services;
   3. attempt to gain unauthorized access to any of the Services, other accounts, computer equipment, or networks connected to any of the Services through hacking, password mining, or any other means;
   4. obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information on or via any of the Services not intentionally made available through the Services;
   5. copy or use any portion of any of the Services other than as expressly allowed under the Agreement;
   6. use any high volume, automated, or electronic means to access any of the Services (including, without limitation, robots, spiders, or scripts);
   7. frame any of the Services, place pop-up windows over Services pages, or otherwise affect the display of such pages; or
   8. force headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any communication transmitted through any of the Services.

4. License Grant to You; Intellectual Property Rights

   In consideration of your acceptance of this Agreement, Harvard grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services solely to participate in the Testing. Harvard may make Harvard Content (as defined below) available to you through the Services. You may obtain and use Harvard Content only in connection with the Services and your participation in the Testing. You may copy and modify Harvard Content only as necessary for your participation in the Testing. You may not transfer, retransmit, distribute, publish, commercially exploit, or create derivative works of Harvard Content. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise access the source code for any software that may be used to operate any of the Services.

   “Harvard Content” means all content or other material, in whole or in part, available through the Services, including but not limited to lectures, comments, video lessons, presentation materials, programs, chatbots, code, images, text, layouts, arrangements, displays, illustrations, documents, materials, audio and video clips, HTML, and files. All Harvard Content, including any Harvard Content contained in Output (defined below) is the property of Harvard and/or its affiliates or licensors and is protected by copyright, patent, and/or other proprietary intellectual property rights under United States and foreign law.

   Harvard logos, insignia, trademarks, and service marks that may appear in the Services (“Marks”) are the property of Harvard and are protected under United States and foreign laws. All other trademarks, service marks, and logos used in the Services, with or without attribution, are the trademarks, service marks, or logos of their respective owners.

   Harvard and/or its affiliates and licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted herein to the Programs, Services, Harvard Content, and Marks.

5. User Submissions

   The Services may provide you with the ability to upload, submit, or otherwise provide certain User Content. “User Content” includes all content, in whatever format, submitted, posted, contributed, published, or distributed on any of the Services by a user, including but not limited to all Input (defined below), notes, questions, answers, comments, text, personal information, pictures, audio, and file uploads. With respect to User Content you submit or otherwise make available in connection with your use of the Services, you grant Harvard a fully transferable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, make derivative works of, distribute, and otherwise disseminate and make available such User Content, and to authorize others to do any of the foregoing, for the purpose of conducting Testing and providing, maintaining, and improving the Services. You expressly acknowledge that your User Content may be visible to others and may include personally identifiable information. To the extent that you provide User Content, you represent, warrant to Harvard and agree that (a) you have all necessary rights to provide and use such User Content and permit Harvard to use such User Content as provided above; (b) as between you and Harvard, you shall be responsible for the payment of any third party fees related to the provision and use of such User Content; and (c) such User Content does not and will not infringe or misappropriate any third party rights.

   You acknowledge that we may screen User Content, and that we shall have the right (but not the obligation), in our sole discretion, to remove any User Content without any liability to you. Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to remove any User Content that violates the Agreement or is otherwise objectionable in our sole and absolute discretion. You agree and acknowledge that we may preserve User Content and may disclose User Content as set forth in the HBS Foundry Privacy Notice, if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that any such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, enforce this Agreement, respond to claims that any User Content violates the rights of third parties, or protect our rights, property or personal safety or that of our users and the public.

6. AI Content

   The Services include chatbots and similar features powered by large language models and other artificial intelligence tools. You may interact with such Services by providing User Content as input (“Input”), to which such Services may provide a response (“Output”). Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large language models are novel and rapidly evolving technologies. Accordingly, you understand and agree that:

   • Output may not always be accurate.
   • You should not rely on any Output without independently confirming its accuracy, and should not rely on Output as a substitute for professional advice in any case.
   • The Services and any Output may not reflect correct, current, or complete information.
   • Output may contain content that is inconsistent with the views of Harvard and/or Harvard affiliates.

7. Termination

   You agree that Harvard, in its sole discretion, may terminate your use of any or all of the Services or your participation in the Testing, for any reason or no reason, and that Harvard will not have any liability to you for any such action. If you no longer wish to participate in the Testing or use any of the Services, you may terminate your participation upon notice to Harvard. The rights granted to you hereunder will terminate upon any termination of your right to use the Services, but the other provisions of the Agreement will survive any such termination.

8. Testing Acknowledgement

   You acknowledge that you will be accessing a pre-release version of the Services that is still under development and testing, and may experience bugs, errors, and other issues that may affect performance, stability, or security. You agree not to submit any sensitive, proprietary, or confidential information to the Services in connection with the Testing. During the Testing, support for the Services may be limited or unavailable. Harvard may, at its sole discretion, provide assistance or guidance but is not obligated to provide regular technical support or resolve issues within a specific time frame.

   You further acknowledge that your participation in the Testing is voluntary and for the sole purpose of assisting and benefiting Harvard in the advancement of the Testing and the Services. You acknowledge that (a) Harvard has not made any representations, promises, or guarantees that the Services or any portion thereof will ever be announced or made generally available or otherwise available to anyone, and (b) Harvard has no express or implied obligation to you to announce or make any of the Services generally available or otherwise available.

   Any future plans or roadmap information provided during the Testing are intended solely to outline general product direction and do not represent a commitment or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. Any forward-looking indication of plans for products, including the development, release, and timing of any features or functionality, is preliminary, and all future release dates are tentative and are subject to change without notice.

9. Feedback

   During the Testing, you may be given the opportunity to provide feedback and information regarding use of the Services, including any suggestions, ideas, know-how, concepts, enhancements, recommendations, or other information relating to the Services (collectively, “Feedback”). You acknowledge that Harvard owns, and shall retain ownership, of all right, title, and interest in any and all proprietary rights, including all copyright, patent, trade secret, trademark, trade name, and all other intellectual property rights, in the Feedback. You hereby assign to Harvard all right, title, and interest in Feedback, and Harvard is free to use such Feedback without any compensation to you.

10. Confidentiality

    You agree to maintain the confidentiality of all non-public information provided to you in connection with the Services or your participation in the Testing (“Confidential Information”). Confidential Information will not include information that (i) is or becomes publicly known through no wrongful act or breach of this Agreement by you; (ii) was in your possession or was known by you prior to the time of disclosure, as evidenced by your written records; (iii) is independently developed by you without the use of or reference to any Confidential Information; or (iv) is lawfully received from a third party not under an obligation of confidentiality to Harvard. You agree to take all reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of the Confidential Information and to use the Confidential Information solely for the purpose of participating in the Testing and for no other purpose. You shall not disclose any Confidential Information to any third party without the prior written consent of Harvard, except as required by law, regulation, or the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, in which case you shall provide such notice to Harvard as is reasonable under the circumstances and take all appropriate measures to seek a protective order or otherwise limit the information subject to such disclosure.

11. Links

    The Services may include hyperlinks to websites or applications maintained or controlled by others. Harvard is not responsible for and does not routinely screen, approve, review, or endorse the contents or use of any of the products or services that may be offered by these websites or applications. If you decide to access linked third-party websites or applications, you do so at your own risk.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

    HARVARD EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THE CONTINUOUS, UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, VIRUS-FREE, OR SECURE ACCESS TO OR OPERATION OF THE SERVICES. TO THE EXTENT HARVARD CANNOT DISCLAIM ANY SUCH WARRANTY AS A MATTER OF APPLICABLE LAW, THE SCOPE AND DURATION OF SUCH WARRANTY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SERVICES ARE BEING PROVIDED AND MADE AVAILABLE ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

    YOU AGREE THAT THE SERVICES: (A) ARE NOT COMPLETE IN DEVELOPMENT AND HAVE NOT BEEN COMMERCIALLY RELEASED BY HARVARD; (B) MAY NOT BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND MAY CONTAIN BUGS, ERRORS, DESIGN FLAWS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS; (C) MAY NOT BE RELIABLE; (D) MAY NOT MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSMITTING, STORING, CREATING, OR OTHERWISE PROCESSING SENSITIVE OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION; (E) WHEN USED, MAY RESULT IN UNEXPECTED RESULTS, LOSS OF CONTENT OR DATA, OR OTHER UNPREDICTABLE DAMAGE OR LOSS TO YOU. HARVARD EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, OR DATA ACCESSED OR USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES.

13. Limitation of Liability

    EXCEPT INSOFAR AS THE FOLLOWING LIMITATION MAY BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HARVARD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS OR EARNING POWER, LOSS OF DATA, LOSSES DUE TO ERRORS OR INTERRUPTION IN AVAILABILITY OF ANY SERVICES, UNAVAILABILITY OF ANY SERVICES, SERVER OR COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY, OR DAMAGES DUE TO ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF OTHERS USING ANY SERVICE), ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE AGREEMENT OR THE SERVICES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, YOUR AND OTHERS’ USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, OR YOUR SUBMISSION OR USE OF USER CONTENT, OR YOUR RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY, OR OTHER LAW. HARVARD’S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE AGREEMENT OR THE SERVICES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IN THE WAYS DESCRIBED IN THE PRECEDING SENTENCE), WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY, OR OTHER LAW, WILL NOT EXCEED U.S. $100. THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION WILL APPLY, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WHETHER OR NOT HARVARD HAS BEEN NEGLIGENT OR OTHERWISE AT FAULT.

    FOR PURPOSES OF THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS, AS WELL AS THE DISCLAIMER IN SECTION 12 ABOVE AND THE INDEMNITY IN SECTION 14 BELOW, “HARVARD” INCLUDES THE CORPORATE BODY PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, ALSO KNOWN AS HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AND ITS VARIOUS SCHOOLS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL), THE MEMBERS OF ITS GOVERNING BOARDS, AND ITS OFFICERS, FACULTY MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, AND REPRESENTATIVES.

    CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THE LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THESE JURISDICTIONS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

14. Indemnification

    You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Harvard (as defined for this purpose in Section 13 above) from any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, relating to or arising out of (a) your use or attempted use of any of the Services in violation of the Agreement; (b) your violation of any law or rights of any third party; or (c) information or content that you post or otherwise make available via the Services, including, without limitation, any claim of infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property or other proprietary rights.

15. Legal Compliance; International Trade

    You agree that you will use the Services in compliance with the Agreement and all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules, and regulations, including privacy and copyright laws, any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence, and all United States export control laws.

    Without limiting the foregoing, you are responsible for complying with all applicable United States export controls administered by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) and the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”), and economic sanctions administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the Department of State’s Office of Sanctions Policy and Implementation. You represent, warrant, and covenant that you are not (a) located in, under the control of, incorporated in, or a resident or national of, any jurisdiction subject to a U.S. government embargo (i.e., Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea and Covered Regions of Ukraine); (b) listed on any restricted parties list, including OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”), BIS’s Entity List, Denied Parties List, or Unverified List, or DDTC’s Debarment List; (c) owned 50% or greater by one or more SDNs individually or in aggregate; or (d) using the Services to provide material support for terrorism pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339A and 2339B.

16. Governing Law; Dispute Resolution

    You agree that the Agreement and any claim or dispute arising out of or relating to the Agreement, the Services, or any content obtained from or through the Services will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, excluding its conflicts of law principles. You agree that all such claims and disputes will be heard and resolved exclusively in the federal or state courts located in and serving Middlesex or Suffolk County, Massachusetts, U.S.A. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts over you for this purpose, and you waive and agree not to assert any objection to such proceedings in those courts (including any defense or objection of lack of proper jurisdiction or venue or inconvenience of forum).

17. Changes

    We may make changes to this Agreement from time to time. Changes to this Agreement will be posted here, and you should regularly check for the most recent version. Your use of the Services following any changes to this Agreement will constitute your acceptance of such changes. The “Last Updated” legend above indicates when this Agreement was last changed.

18. Miscellaneous

    This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Harvard with respect to your use of the Services and participation in Testing, superseding any prior agreements between you and Harvard regarding the same. The failure of Harvard to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Agreement will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, to the extent that may lawfully be done, and the other provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect in any case. Harvard may freely transfer or assign any portion of its rights or delegate its obligations under the Agreement. You may not transfer or assign, by operation of law or otherwise, any portion of your rights or delegate your obligations under the Agreement without the prior written consent of Harvard, and any attempted such transfer or assignment will be void and of no effect.

This Privacy Notice applies to the Harvard Business School Foundry platform offered by President and Fellows of Harvard College (“Harvard,” “we,” or “us”) at https://hbsfoundry-stage.org (the “Site”), as well as any services made available on the Site (the “Services”). Harvard understands that the privacy of its users is important. To that end, we have adopted the following notice to provide you with information about the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information of visitors to the Site and the Services. Personal information is information related to an identified or identifiable natural person. We are providing this notice below so that you may understand the terms and conditions associated with the provision of any personal information to us. We may update our Privacy Notice from time to time and will post any changes on this page. We encourage you to check our website frequently to review the most up-to-date versions of our Privacy Notice. Your continued use of this website constitutes acceptance of such terms.