Terms of Use

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using FieldMonocle ("the Service," "we," "our," or "us"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use ("Terms"). If you do not agree to all of these Terms, do not use the Service. We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

2. Educational Purpose Only

FieldMonocle is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a professional botanical, mycological, entomological, geological, or medical service. No content produced by this Service constitutes expert advice, expert confirmation, or professional guidance of any kind. You must not rely on any identification result from this Service as a substitute for consultation with a qualified human expert.

3. AI Identification Disclaimer

The identification results produced by this Service are generated by an artificial intelligence model (Google Gemini). AI can produce incorrect, misleading, or incomplete results. Confidence scores and labels ("High," "Medium," "Low") are probabilistic estimates only and do not guarantee accuracy. Species identification — especially of fungi, wild plants, berries, and insects — requires physical, multi-sense examination by a trained, qualified expert.

Factors that may cause incorrect AI identifications include, but are not limited to: poor image quality, unusual lighting, partial views of a specimen, regional variation within a species, immature or damaged specimens, and the inherent limitations of pattern-matching AI models.

4. No Consumption, Foraging, or Legal-Harvesting Guidance

Do not eat, drink, smoke, brew, tincture, or medically use any wild plant, mushroom, berry, lichen, or organism based solely on a result from this Service. Many species that are deadly or cause serious illness are nearly indistinguishable from edible species in photographs. Misidentification of wild edibles has caused death and permanent organ damage. FieldMonocle expressly disclaims any responsibility for harm resulting from foraging decisions made based on its AI output. FieldMonocle also does not determine whether collecting, cultivating, moving, possessing, or harvesting a species is lawful. Protected-species alerts are conservative screening notices, not legal clearance. You are responsible for checking current federal, state, tribal, local, landowner, and site-specific rules with the appropriate authority.

5. No Medical Advice

Nothing in this Service constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. For any suspected poisoning, toxic exposure, allergic reaction, envenomation, or medical emergency, contact Poison Control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) or emergency services (911) immediately. Do not delay seeking medical attention because of information obtained from this Service.

6. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, FieldMonocle, its founders, developers, operators, officers, employees, agents, and licensors (collectively, "FieldMonocle Parties") shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages — including but not limited to personal injury, illness, death, property damage, loss of data, loss of revenue, or loss of goodwill — arising from or related to your use of, or inability to use, the Service or any content obtained from it.

Liability Cap: In jurisdictions that do not allow the complete exclusion of liability, the total cumulative liability of the FieldMonocle Parties to you for any claim arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount you paid to use the Service in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) twenty-five US dollars ($25.00).

You acknowledge that FieldMonocle has set its pricing and entered into these Terms in reliance upon the limitations of liability stated herein, and that these limitations form an essential basis of the bargain between the parties.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, title, and non-infringement. FieldMonocle does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses or other harmful components. No oral or written information or advice given by FieldMonocle or its authorized representatives shall create any warranty.

8. Acceptable Use

• →You may use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms.
• →You may not use the Service to upload images containing nudity, graphic violence, or content that violates the rights of others.
• →You may not attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or systematically extract data from the Service.
• →You may not use the Service to generate content intended to mislead or harm others.
• →You may not share identification results in a manner that implies they are professionally verified expert opinions.
• →You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account or use AI identification.

9. Intellectual Property

The FieldMonocle name, logo, interface design, and all original content created by FieldMonocle are protected by copyright and trademark law and remain the exclusive property of FieldMonocle. You retain ownership of photographs you upload. By uploading a photo, you grant FieldMonocle a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to process that image solely for the purpose of providing you with an identification result. We do not claim ownership of your images and do not use them to train AI models.

10. Account Termination

FieldMonocle reserves the right to suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for conduct that violates these Terms, poses a safety risk, or is otherwise harmful to other users or the Service. You may delete your account from Account settings or request help by contacting us at privacy@fieldmonocle.com.

11. Privacy & Data Processing

FieldMonocle uses Google Gemini to process identification requests. Under Google's terms for paid services, Google states that it does not use prompts, associated image files, or responses to improve its products. Google separately states that it retains prompts, contextual information, and generated output for up to 55 days for abuse monitoring, policy enforcement, and required disclosures. FieldMonocle automatically removes EXIF metadata, including embedded GPS coordinates, before transmission. Location or field-note text you enter is still transmitted for identification and protected-status screening.

For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.

12. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware for the resolution of any disputes arising from these Terms or the Service. If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

13. Dispute Resolution

Before initiating any formal legal proceeding, you agree to first contact FieldMonocle at privacy@fieldmonocle.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days. Any dispute not resolved informally shall be submitted to binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), conducted in English, on an individual basis. You waive any right to participate in a class-action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FieldMonocle and its Parties from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any third-party rights.

15. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by updating the "Last Updated" date below and, where practicable, by emailing registered users. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of any revision constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

16. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at privacy@fieldmonocle.com.