Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 28, 2026

alpha-brief (also known as 阿法筆記, “we”, “our”, the “Service”) publishes Traditional-Chinese summaries of finance and technology podcasts and provides an AI-powered chatbot. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information.

1. Information We Collect

• Google account info. When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile avatar.
• Chat questions and uploads. The text of questions you submit to the chatbot, and any images you attach, are processed by third-party AI services (see §3). Questions and AI-generated answers are stored in our database tied to your account so you can revisit them; uploaded images are stored in a private bucket for 30 days for the same purpose.
• Usage data. We record per-user daily and monthly chatbot usage counts for quota enforcement.
• Payment info. Payments are processed by Paddle (Merchant of Record). We do not store credit card numbers. Paddle returns a customer ID and subscription metadata that we associate with your account.
• Operational logs. Anonymous request logs (timestamp, route, response code) and error traces are retained for up to 30 days for debugging.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide the Service: publish summaries, run the chatbot, and personalize your experience.
• To manage your account and subscription.
• To enforce usage quotas and prevent abuse.
• To debug errors and improve quality.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your data to train AI models.

3. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate alpha-brief:

• Google (Gemini API): AI question answering and image understanding. Subject to Google’s privacy policy.
• Groq (Whisper): Speech-to-text for podcast transcription. Audio files are uploaded only from publicly available podcast feeds — no user audio is sent.
• Supabase: Authentication, database, and file storage (Tokyo region).
• Trigger.dev: Background task orchestration (e.g. running the chatbot pipeline).
• Paddle: Payment processing (Merchant of Record).
• Vercel: Web hosting and edge delivery.
• Sentry: Error monitoring (only error traces, no user content).

4. Data Retention

We retain your account data — including chat history and subscription records — while your account is active. Operational logs are retained for up to 30 days. Uploaded images are retained for 30 days.

You may request account deletion at any time by emailing menulensai@gmail.com. Deletion removes your profile, chat history, and uploaded images within 14 days. Subscription / billing records may be retained by Paddle as required by tax and accounting laws.

5. Cookies and Local Storage

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in (set by Supabase Auth) and to remember UI preferences. We do not use third-party advertising or behavioural tracking cookies.

6. Children

alpha-brief is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

7. International Transfers

Data may be processed in regions other than yours (e.g. Supabase Tokyo, Google APIs, Paddle servers in the EU/US). By using the Service you consent to this transfer.

8. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be highlighted on this page’s “Last updated” date.

9. Contact

For questions about this policy or to exercise your rights (access, correction, deletion), email menulensai@gmail.com.