Terms of Use

1. What Nikko is — and is not

Nikko is an AI-powered wellbeing companion designed to provide emotional support, surface evidence-informed information, and encourage connection to human care. It is a research preview.

Nikko is not:

• A mental health service, clinic, or treatment platform
• A substitute for a psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, counsellor, or general practitioner
• A crisis service or emergency intervention system
• A diagnostic tool — it cannot and will not diagnose any condition
• A substitute for emergency services

Any information Nikko provides is general and informational only. It does not constitute professional health advice and must not be relied upon in place of consultation with a qualified healthcare professional.

2. Eligibility

2.1 Age

You must be 18 years of age or older to use Nikko. If you are under 18, you must not use this service. There is no supervised minor-access pathway in this research preview.

2.2 Geography

Nikko is currently available in Australia only. Crisis resources displayed are Australian services. If you are outside Australia, the crisis numbers shown may not apply to you — please contact your local emergency services or a crisis line in your country.

2.3 Language

Nikko operates in English only. Responses in other languages are not supported and may be inaccurate.

3. Acceptable use

You agree to use Nikko only for personal, non-commercial purposes related to emotional wellbeing and mental health. You must not use Nikko to:

• Obtain a medical diagnosis, prescription, or clinical treatment plan
• Seek legal, financial, or professional advice
• Harass, manipulate, or harm yourself or others
• Attempt to extract, reverse-engineer, or misuse the underlying AI model
• Submit false or misleading information with the intent to manipulate the system
• Use Nikko on behalf of another person without their knowledge and consent

4. No professional relationship

Use of Nikko does not create a therapeutic relationship, patient–provider relationship, or any professional duty of care. Nikko is an AI system. Interaction with it does not constitute professional mental health care.

If you are in mental health distress, please contact a qualified mental health professional or one of the crisis services listed on the entry screen.

5. Limitations of the AI

Nikko may produce responses that are incomplete, imprecise, or contextually inappropriate. AI systems, including Nikko, can make errors. You should apply your own judgment when interpreting any information provided by Nikko and verify important information with a qualified professional.

Nikko's information is evidence-informed where possible but is not guaranteed to reflect the most current clinical guidelines. It will not always account for your individual circumstances.

6. Privacy and data

No personal data is collected, stored, or transmitted by Nikko's servers during a session. Your conversation is held in your browser's memory only and is permanently deleted when you close or refresh the page.

If you use the optional Personal Memory feature, your memory file is encrypted on your device using AES-256 encryption. The encrypted file is never transmitted to any server.

For full details, see the Privacy Policy.

7. Research preview status

Nikko is provided as a research preview. This means:

• The service may be modified, interrupted, or discontinued without notice
• Features may change between sessions
• The AI model is under active development and may produce inconsistent responses
• No uptime or availability guarantee is provided

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable Australian law, the creators of Nikko disclaim all warranties, express or implied. Nikko is provided "as is".

The creators of Nikko shall not be liable for any loss, harm, injury, or damage arising from your use of, or inability to use, Nikko — including any reliance on information provided by Nikko in place of professional care.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law.

9. Intellectual property

The Nikko system, including its interface design, AI pipeline, and documentation, is the intellectual property of its creators. The codebase is made available for research inspection; all rights reserved unless otherwise stated in applicable open-source licences.

10. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. Any dispute arising from these Terms will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria.

11. Changes to these Terms

These Terms may be updated as the research preview evolves. The version date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Continued use of Nikko after a revision constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

12. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact the developer:

Nicholas Dale
linkedin.com/in/equinox013 · equinox013.github.io