Terms of Service

1. Who operates AI-ARTS

AI-ARTS.ORG is operated by Empirical Cultures Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17322154. Its registered office is 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.

In these Terms, “AI-ARTS”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Empirical Cultures Ltd in its role as operator of the service. AI-ARTS is its public arts community and platform; Empirical Cultures provides the underlying cultural technology framework.

You can reach us through the AI-ARTS contact form or at contact@empirical.org.uk. Written correspondence may also be sent to our registered office.

2. Scope and agreement

These Terms cover the AI-ARTS websites and services that link to them, including accounts, artist profiles, artworks, media, organisation workspaces, submissions, reviews, competitions, open calls, galleries, exhibitions, immersive displays, publications and related community features. “Content” includes the images, videos, audio, text, metadata and other material provided through these services.

You agree to these Terms when you accept them during registration, onboarding or another process that requests your agreement. Existing accounts may be asked to accept an updated version. Merely receiving an invitation or having an existing record migrated does not constitute acceptance of new terms.

A particular programme or paid service may have additional terms presented before you enter or purchase. Those terms govern the specific activity; they do not silently replace these Terms or expand rights over your work. Any difference must be clearly identified and agreed, and mandatory legal protections always apply.

The Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explain how information and cookies are used. Acceptance of these Terms does not itself constitute consent to optional marketing, analytics or unrelated research.

3. Accounts and access

Provide accurate account information, keep your contact details current and use only accounts you are authorised to access. You may use an artist name or pseudonym publicly, provided you do not impersonate someone else or misrepresent your rights or affiliations.

Keep your sign-in credentials secure and contact us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access. Use the platform’s membership and role controls when working with others. You are responsible for activity you authorise and for taking reasonable care of your account; this does not make you automatically responsible for a security failure outside your control.

You must have legal capacity to enter this agreement. The service is not directed at children creating accounts independently. Participation by a minor is permitted only through a programme that expressly allows it, with the necessary parent, guardian or educational arrangements and permissions.

If you act for an organisation, you must be authorised to do so. We may reasonably verify account ownership, organisational authority or eligibility. Artist acceptance, reviewer access and organisation approval concern participation on the platform; they do not certify professional qualifications, ownership of every submitted work or legal compliance.

4. Ethics and creative responsibility

Please read our Manifesto and Ethics. They describe our commitment to original artistic exploration, human creative judgement, transparency, inclusion and respect across artistic disciplines.

When participating, you must:

• Represent your contribution honestly, including collaborators and relevant AI tools, models or methods where requested or needed to avoid misleading reviewers or audiences.
• Respect copyright, privacy, consent and other applicable rights, including those relating to source material, music, performances, faces and voices.
• Follow our originality standard: do not submit work made to imitate another artist or author, or generated using other artists’ names in prompts.
• Consider the foreseeable impact of your work and its presentation, including harmful stereotyping, deception and the exposure of private information.
• Treat other participants respectfully, including when disagreeing with artistic choices, reviews or institutional decisions.

Our originality standard is a community rule, not a statement that artistic style is necessarily protected by copyright. Ethical assessment will consider context and evidence. Critical, challenging and unconventional expression is welcome when it meets these standards and the law.

The obligations in this section are contractual standards. The Manifesto also contains aspirations for the community; it does not require agreement with every artistic opinion. Material changes to binding standards follow section 22.

5. Ownership and permissions

You retain all ownership and intellectual property rights that you hold in your content. Uploading, submitting, being selected or receiving an award does not transfer those rights to AI-ARTS, Empirical Cultures, a reviewer or an organisation.

You must have the rights or other lawful authority needed to submit the content and permit its intended use. Check the conditions of your AI tools and source materials, including restrictions on outputs, commercial use or redistribution. Obtain any necessary permissions from collaborators, rights holders and identifiable people. Credit does not replace permission where permission is required.

Copyright protection for AI-assisted and AI-generated material depends on the work, its creation and the applicable law. We do not guarantee that an output is original, copyright-protected, exclusive to you or free of third-party claims. Platform acceptance or review does not establish legal authorship or clear every right.

Where reasonably necessary to investigate a concern or assess eligibility, we may ask for information about your contribution, permissions or process. Do not send confidential prompts, credentials or unnecessary personal information; discuss a suitable way to provide evidence with us.

6. Permission to operate the service

By providing content, you give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use it only as reasonably necessary to deliver the services and publication choices you authorise. Non-exclusive means you remain free to use and license your work elsewhere. Worldwide reflects the international operation of the internet and our services. Royalty-free means that the permitted uses do not themselves require payment to you.

This permission covers storing and backing up files, processing and transmitting them, producing thumbnails and accessible versions, converting formats, reviewing and moderating submissions, and displaying or distributing content within the authorised scope. Technical resizing, compression or cropping must not materially misrepresent the work. Substantive creative alterations require your permission.

We may give service providers and authorised programme participants the limited permissions necessary to perform these tasks. They receive no independent right under these Terms to exploit your content for unrelated purposes.

This licence does not authorise the sale of your artwork, merchandise, NFTs or training or fine-tuning AI models using your content. Such uses require a separate, specific agreement with the relevant rights holders. Account participation is not blanket permission for Empirical Cultures research involving private submissions or identifiable participant information.

You do not waive your moral rights under these Terms. The duration of this licence and the treatment of remaining copies are explained in section 17.

7. Publication, credit and dissemination

We want artists’ work to be seen and understood. When you authorise public publication, you permit us to display the work and its approved title, artist credit and contextual information through the public features you select, including applicable AI-ARTS artist pages, galleries and programme records.

Where included in the publication choice or programme rules presented to you, this permission also covers sharing reproductions or excerpts in official social media posts, newsletters, editorial coverage, exhibitions and programme publicity to present the work, credit the artist and promote the relevant activity. Private or unlisted submission alone does not grant this wider permission.

Printed publications, external exhibitions, partner distribution, long-term public archives or uses beyond the selected features must be identified in the relevant publication choice or programme terms. We will seek further permission if a proposed use falls outside the permission already granted. We will not imply that you endorse an unrelated product or sponsor.

We will use the artist name or pseudonym and credit information you provide wherever reasonably practicable, and correct reported attribution errors on channels we control. Necessary excerpts and technical adaptations should preserve the work’s meaning and context.

Public websites and external channels may allow indexing, linking, sharing or copying. We cannot guarantee that others will not misuse a publicly available work, and publication does not give those people unrestricted reuse rights. If an external channel requires materially broader rights than you have granted, further permission is needed before we place your work there.

8. Private, unlisted and public content

Visibility options depend on the feature and programme. Please check the setting and any publication rules before submitting:

• Private content is available to you and people authorised for the relevant workflow, such as programme administrators and reviewers, together with personnel and providers who need access to operate, support or secure the service.
• Unlisted content is not intended to appear in public listings, but anyone with the relevant link may be able to access and forward it. It is unsuitable for material that requires confidentiality.
• Public content can be accessed by visitors and may be indexed by search engines and shared outside the platform.

A hidden profile does not automatically hide an artwork, competition result or publication that you separately authorised. Likewise, changing a profile setting does not recall earlier publications. Contact us if you need help understanding or changing a particular item’s visibility.

Submitting to a programme gives the authorised organiser and reviewers access needed to administer it. Selection does not itself make a submission public: an authorised release step is still required under the permissions and programme rules you accepted.

9. Review, editing and imported works

We may review artwork for security, eligibility, rights concerns, ethical standards and presentation before publication. We aim to process reviews promptly, but do not guarantee a particular response time unless a programme expressly provides one.

A work may be locked against editing while it is under review. This keeps the reviewed version stable. Please wait until the review is completed or the work is returned for changes. You may contact us to request withdrawal, correction or deletion during this period. Later changes may require another review.

Some works imported from the previous AI-ARTS website cannot be edited directly. If you need to correct, update or remove an imported work, use our contact form. Migration does not change ownership or, by itself, expand earlier publication permissions, create a new subscription or confirm that every record has been transferred.

Publication, review status and artist recognition may be reconsidered where material information was inaccurate, permissions are missing or a substantiated concern arises. The reporting and review process in section 18 applies.

10. Competitions, open calls and other programmes

Each competition, award, workshop, exhibition or other programme must identify its organiser. Where AI-ARTS is identified as organiser, we are responsible for that role. Where an independent organisation runs it, that organisation is responsible for its programme commitments; providing the platform does not make us the organiser or guarantor of its prizes.

Before entry, the organiser must clearly explain the relevant eligibility requirements, submission criteria, deadlines and time zone, fees, judging process, prizes or opportunities, publication permissions, withdrawal arrangements and any material restrictions. Personal information collected for the programme must be covered by an appropriate privacy notice.

Applicants must provide honest information, meet the stated rules and disclose material conflicts of interest. Organisers must administer programmes fairly, manage conflicts and communicate material changes. They must not retrospectively expand rights over entries or impose undisclosed fees.

Prizes, payments, travel, production, delivery and any associated conditions are the responsibility of the party identified in the programme rules. Submission does not guarantee selection, publication, funding, audience reach or professional opportunity.

Judging necessarily involves artistic assessment. A programme may make its judges’ artistic decisions final within its selection process, but this does not prevent a complaint about misconduct, a failure to follow the rules or a legal claim. If a programme is cancelled or materially changed, the organiser must explain the consequences for entries, permissions, fees and refunds.

For physical events or immersive experiences, the organiser must explain relevant access, accessibility, equipment and safety requirements before participation. Participants must follow reasonable venue and equipment instructions; those instructions do not remove the organiser’s safety obligations.

11. Organisation accounts and workspaces

Organisations may create a presence and run permitted activities using the features available to their account. The authorised account owner must maintain accurate organisational details, assign suitable roles and remove access when someone no longer needs it.

The organisation is responsible for its programme rules, communications, selection and release decisions, rights clearances, branding and domains, and for meeting the commitments it makes to participants. It must ensure that staff and invited reviewers understand their duties.

Access to an artist’s submission does not transfer ownership or permit unrelated advertising, mailing-list enrolment, research or AI training. Organisations must use submissions and participant information only for explained, lawful purposes, with appropriate security and access restrictions.

An organisation may be independently responsible for how it uses personal information. Where we process information solely on its instructions, applicable data-processing arrangements must cover that activity. Creating a workspace does not remove either party’s legal responsibilities.

Organisation approval or use of AI-ARTS branding does not imply sponsorship, accreditation, agency or partnership beyond an arrangement expressly agreed with us. Owners should make suitable continuity arrangements before leaving or closing a workspace.

12. Reviewers, confidentiality and fair assessment

Reviewers and administrators must use non-public submissions and applicant information only for their authorised duties. They must not publish, forward, reuse or retain copies unnecessarily, or upload them to external AI tools or other services without appropriate authorisation and safeguards.

Reviewers must disclose actual or reasonably perceived conflicts of interest and step aside where necessary. They must follow the published criteria, avoid discrimination or manipulation, protect access credentials and communicate respectfully.

Programme administrators must explain whether feedback, scores, reviewer identities or decisions will be shared. These Terms do not promise access to every internal note, nor do they restrict disclosure or access rights required by law.

13. Acceptable use

You must not use the service to:

• Infringe rights, commit fraud, make unlawful threats, harass others, expose private information or promote unlawful discrimination or violence.
• Distribute sexual exploitation material, non-consensual intimate imagery, including synthetic imagery, or material that unlawfully exploits or endangers children.
• Impersonate someone, fabricate endorsements or present synthetic media deceptively in a way that infringes rights or causes foreseeable harm.
• Manipulate ratings, entries, reviews or voting through fake accounts, undisclosed coordination, bribery or abusive automation.
• Bypass permissions, interfere with another account, distribute malicious code, conduct unauthorised security testing or overload the service.
• Harvest personal information, send unsolicited marketing or scrape restricted content without lawful authority and required permissions.

Reasonable technical and capacity limits may apply to protect shared resources. We will explain material limits, and normally give an opportunity to address excessive use before restricting access unless urgent action is necessary. Report suspected vulnerabilities privately through our contact route without accessing or exposing other people’s information.

14. Visitors, reuse and open licences

Public access is not the same as an open licence. You may view public pages and share links, but reproducing, selling, adapting or otherwise reusing protected content requires permission unless a stated licence or applicable legal exception allows it. Credit alone does not grant that permission.

If a rights holder expressly applies an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence, its conditions govern the covered material. An open licence does not automatically cover third-party music, trademarks, personal information or other rights. Some open licences cannot be withdrawn from people who already received the work under them.

These Terms grant visitors no permission to compile artwork datasets or train AI models using others’ content. Any such use requires its own lawful basis and all necessary permissions. Nothing here overrides a statutory exception that cannot lawfully be restricted.

Our software, branding, designs and editorial material remain subject to their respective rights and any expressly stated licences. Do not suggest an affiliation or endorsement that does not exist.

15. External services and technology providers

AI-ARTS uses external providers for functions such as hosting, authentication, storage, security, email, media delivery and embedded content. Relevant provider and privacy information appears in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

If you choose an external sign-in, video, AI or other integrated service, additional provider terms may apply to your use of that service. Required additional terms must be made available at the relevant point of use. You remain responsible for complying with the licences of tools and materials you bring to the platform.

External services can change their availability or functionality. We remain responsible for our own contractual and legal duties, including duties relating to providers acting on our behalf. A third-party link does not mean we endorse everything at its destination.

Any future feature involving materially different processing, publication or content rights will explain those conditions before use and obtain further agreement or consent where required.

16. Privacy and communications

The Privacy Policy explains personal information, providers, retention, transfers and your rights. A copyright licence and permission to process personal information are different: these Terms do not remove your data-protection rights.

We may send communications needed to operate your account or requested activities, such as access messages, submission confirmations, review decisions and important security or service notices.

Optional newsletters, competition announcements and promotional opportunities are managed separately from acceptance of these Terms. You can change your choices in Notification preferences or use the unsubscribe route in promotional emails. An existing account or imported artwork is not, by itself, evidence of marketing consent.

17. Removing content and closing an account

You may request correction, withdrawal, unpublication, deletion or account closure using available account controls or our contact form. We may reasonably verify ownership or authority before acting. Where a programme is affected, we will explain the relevant arrangements and any consequences for eligibility.

For uses governed by these Terms, we will stop new publication and promotion within a reasonable time after a valid withdrawal request and remove the affected content from active channels we control, subject to any separately agreed programme permission or legal requirement. Any continuing programme permission must have been clearly explained before it was accepted; entering a competition does not create an unstated permanent licence.

The operational licence ends when the relevant content is removed from active services, except for limited copies reasonably required for legal obligations, security, disputes or backups. Those retained copies must not be used for new public promotion and are kept only for the applicable retention period. Public archival display requires an applicable publication permission; internal record retention alone does not authorise it.

Withdrawal cannot undo a publication already lawfully made or guarantee recall of printed material, third-party copies, search caches or material others received under a valid open licence. We will take reasonable steps concerning channels we control and explain when an independent organiser or publisher must be contacted.

Closing an organisation owner’s account may require an authorised handover and does not automatically cancel the organisation’s obligations to participants. Account closure does not remove accrued legal rights, confidentiality duties or properly continuing record-retention obligations.

18. Reports, moderation, suspension and appeals

To report a rights infringement, harmful content, ethical concern or account problem, use our contact form or email contact@empirical.org.uk. Include the relevant page or work, a clear explanation, supporting information and a way to contact you. For a rights complaint, explain the right concerned and your authority to raise it.

We will assess reports in good faith, considering available evidence, artistic context and any relevant legal exceptions. We may seek clarification or give the affected person an opportunity to respond. We will share report information only as reasonably necessary to investigate, provide a fair process or meet legal obligations.

We may request corrections, temporarily restrict access, unpublish content, suspend an account or end access where reasonably necessary to address a serious or repeated breach, a credible safety or security risk, unlawful activity or a legal requirement. Measures should be proportionate to the concern.

Where practicable, we will explain the reason and give an opportunity to respond or correct the issue. Immediate action may be necessary to prevent serious harm, preserve evidence or comply with law. Information may be withheld where disclosure is prohibited or would undermine safety or an investigation.

You may ask us to reconsider a moderation or account decision through the same contact route, explaining any error or new evidence. Complaints and requests for reconsideration do not limit access to courts, regulators or other remedies available by law.

19. Free services, optional paid features and fees

Our core artist and community services, and the organisation tools described as free, remain free within their published limits. This does not mean every additional feature, external service or independently organised event is free.

Enhanced capacity, specialist support, custom domains or other optional services may have charges. Before you commit, the relevant offer must state what is included, the total price and applicable taxes, billing arrangements, duration, renewal terms and cancellation or refund conditions. We will not automatically convert your free account into a paid subscription.

A programme organiser must disclose any entry or participation fee before entry and identify who receives it. Fees do not guarantee selection or an award. Cancellation, refund and consumer rights apply as required by law; a general “no refunds” statement does not override them.

For paid services purchased by a consumer at a distance, a statutory cancellation period may apply, normally 14 days from the service contract being made, subject to legal exceptions. Where early performance or digital-content supply affects that right, the relevant purchase process must explain this and obtain any express request, consent or acknowledgement required. These Terms alone do not waive a cancellation right.

20. Availability, interruption and permanent closure

We are continuing to improve AI-ARTS and add useful opportunities for artists and organisations. We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill, but cannot promise uninterrupted access, compatibility with every device or the absence of every technical error.

Free access does not include a guarantee that the platform, any feature or any public page will remain available indefinitely. Unless expressly agreed in a separate service agreement, we do not promise a particular uptime level or a fixed time for restoring access after an interruption.

We may temporarily suspend, or permanently discontinue, all or part of the free service where continued operation is prevented by legal requirements, a serious security risk or a technical failure that cannot reasonably be resolved. We may also discontinue the free service where the loss of essential infrastructure, funding or operational support makes its continued provision no longer reasonably viable. We will consider reasonable alternatives and take proportionate steps to reduce the impact on users. These Terms do not require us to maintain or rebuild the free platform indefinitely where those circumstances prevent its reasonable continuation.

Features and limits may also change for identifiable reasons, including accessibility, maintenance, security and changes to supporting technology. For a planned material reduction or closure, we will give reasonable advance notice and a reasonable opportunity to retrieve available content where lawful and technically possible. An unexpected failure or urgent legal or security requirement may prevent advance notice; in that case, we will explain the situation and available options as soon as reasonably practicable.

An interruption or permanent closure does not, by itself, entitle a user to compensation for loss of access to the free service, provided we have complied with these Terms and our legal obligations. This does not exclude responsibility for our negligence, a breach of contract, a failure to meet data-protection duties or any liability preserved in section 21.

We will honour existing paid commitments and any specific programme obligations, or provide the cancellation, refund or other remedies required by the agreement and law. Statements about planned features express our intentions; a particular release date or function is guaranteed only where expressly included in an agreement.

Please keep your own original files and important records. AI-ARTS is not a substitute for your personal archive. This recommendation does not remove our responsibility for a failure to meet our own obligations.

21. Responsibility and legal rights

We are responsible for loss or damage caused by our breach of these Terms or failure to use reasonable care and skill where that loss was reasonably foreseeable. Each participant is responsible for their own unlawful conduct and breaches according to applicable law. These Terms do not make you automatically liable for every third-party claim or all of our legal costs.

We do not guarantee the accuracy of every user statement, the outcome of an independent programme or the conduct of another participant. However, these limits do not excuse our own negligence, contractual commitments or legal duties relating to the service.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted. Mandatory consumer rights, data-protection rights and available legal remedies remain unaffected, including where you use a free service.

If an event beyond our reasonable control disrupts a service, we will take reasonable steps to limit the effect and keep affected users informed. This does not remove cancellation, refund or other rights that apply where an agreed service cannot be provided.

22. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms to reflect changes in law, security needs, services or clearly explained operating arrangements. The version date appears at the top of this page.

We will bring material changes to your attention with reasonable advance notice wherever practicable and request renewed agreement where required. Changes will not retrospectively expand permissions over previously submitted work, introduce a charge you have not agreed to or remove rights that have already arisen.

If you do not agree to a material change, you may stop using the affected service and request content retrieval or account closure. Existing paid commitments and applicable cancellation or refund rights remain protected. Changes required urgently by law or to address a serious risk may take effect sooner, with an explanation as soon as reasonably possible.

23. Governing law and resolving concerns

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you are a consumer habitually resident elsewhere, this choice does not deprive you of mandatory protections under the law that would otherwise apply to you.

The courts of England and Wales may hear disputes relating to these Terms. Consumers may also use any courts available to them under mandatory law, including the courts where they live where the law provides that right. These Terms do not require private arbitration or prevent complaints to an appropriate regulator.

If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue so far as the agreement can lawfully operate. A delay in enforcing a provision does not automatically waive it. Any transfer of our contractual obligations must preserve your rights and applicable legal protections; we will notify you of a material change of operator.

We welcome the opportunity to resolve concerns directly. Please contact AI-ARTS or email contact@empirical.org.uk. Contacting us first is encouraged, but is not a condition of exercising your legal rights.