Terms of Service

Please read these Terms of Service carefully. By clicking “Accepted and Agreed To,” signing an order, or otherwise accessing or using the Services, Customer agrees to these terms and conditions.

These Terms of Service constitute an agreement (this “Agreement”) by and between Back Bay Automation (“Back Bay”) and the corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship, or other business entity executing this Agreement or using the Services (“Customer”), each a “Party” and collectively the “Parties”.

This Agreement is effective as of the date Customer clicks “Accepted and Agreed To,” signs an order, or otherwise begins using the Alessia platform (the “Effective Date”). Customer’s use of, and Back Bay’s provision of, the Services are governed by this Agreement.

The Customer acknowledges that it has read this Agreement, understands it, and agrees to be bound by its terms, and that the person signing on its behalf has been authorized to do so. Except as otherwise agreed in writing, this Agreement is incorporated by reference into all orders between Back Bay and Customer.

For this Agreement, “Back Bay” means Back Bay Automation, with its principal place of business in the United States.

1. Definitions

The following capitalized terms have the following meanings:

• “Affiliate” means any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a Party.
• “AI” means artificial intelligence technologies, including machine learning models and algorithms.
• “Alessia Platform” means Back Bay’s AI document intelligence software that allows Users to query technical documentation through a web interface or API.
• “Customer Data” means data and information collected, processed, and/or stored on the Alessia Platform specific to Customer or its Users, including Document Data, Inputs, Outputs, query logs, and personal information of Users.
• “Document Data” means technical documentation — including catalogs, manuals, cut sheets, application notes, drawings, and related materials — uploaded or otherwise provided by Customer or its Users.
• “Input” means any query, prompt, or other data submitted to the Alessia Platform that is used to generate Output.
• “LLM” means a large language model used by Back Bay to process Customer Data and generate Output.
• “Order” means an order or statement of work signed by both Parties referencing these Terms of Service.
• “Output” means AI-generated responses to Inputs, including cited references to source documents where available.
• “Services” means the services provided by Back Bay under this Agreement, including provision of the Alessia Platform.
• “Third Party LLM” means any third-party LLM provider used by Back Bay to generate Output, including OpenAI and Google.
• “User” means any individual who uses the Alessia Platform on Customer’s behalf or through Customer’s account.

2. The Alessia Platform

2.1 Authorization

Subject to this Agreement, Back Bay grants Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide right during the Term to access the Alessia Platform and authorize the number of Users specified in the Order to use the Alessia Platform solely for Customer’s internal business purposes.

2.2 Support and updates

Back Bay will provide support and maintain the operational availability of the Alessia Platform, including installing updates reasonably necessary to address errors or security issues. Back Bay may revise platform features provided that revisions do not materially degrade core functionality specified in an applicable Order.

2.3 Single-tenant deployment

Each manufacturing customer is deployed into a dedicated environment. Customer’s Document Data, search indexes, metadata, and query logs are not co-located with any other customer’s data. Details are set out in our Privacy Policy.

3. Fees and payment

Customer will pay the fees stipulated in each Order within thirty (30) days of invoice unless otherwise specified. Late payments may accrue interest at the lower of 2% per month or the maximum rate permitted by law. Except as expressly stated in an Order or required by law, fees are non-refundable and non-cancelable during the active term.

Back Bay may suspend access if fees are overdue by thirty (30) days or more until amounts are paid in full. Suspension does not relieve Customer of payment obligations.

4. Data, security, and privacy

4.1 Processing of Customer Data

Customer authorizes Back Bay to process Customer Data as required to provide the Services, including transmitting retrieved document passages and Inputs to Third Party LLMs to generate Output. Except as expressly permitted in this Agreement, Back Bay will not share Customer Data with other Back Bay customers or unrelated third parties.

4.2 Third Party LLMs

Customer understands and consents that:

• Only passages retrieved for a specific query — not Customer’s full corpus — are transmitted to Third Party LLMs, encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher.
• Under applicable API terms, data submitted through Third Party LLMs is not used to train those providers’ public models.
• Back Bay does not fine-tune, train, or improve models using Customer Data, and does not pool embeddings or indexes across customers.

4.3 Internal processing

Back Bay collects and processes Customer Data only to provide and maintain the Services, respond to support requests, and comply with law. Query text is not used to improve the product for other customers. Back Bay may use aggregate, anonymized operational metrics — such as query counts, error rates, and latency — that cannot reasonably identify Customer.

4.4 Data ownership

As between the Parties, Customer owns all Customer Data and Output. Back Bay treats Customer Data as Confidential Information. Customer grants Back Bay a limited license to use, copy, store, modify, and display Customer Data solely to provide the Services.

4.5 Security

Back Bay maintains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect Customer Data, including AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.2 or higher in transit. Security controls, subprocessors, and data handling practices are described in our Privacy Policy. Back Bay is not SOC 2 certified today and will not represent otherwise.

4.6 Privacy

Back Bay’s handling of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy. Where Back Bay processes personal data on Customer’s behalf, a Data Processing Addendum is available as part of the contracting package.

5. Customer responsibilities

5.1 Acceptable use

Customer will not: (a) reverse engineer or attempt to derive source code from the Alessia Platform; (b) use the Services for unlawful purposes; (c) resell or sublicense the Services to third parties; (d) share login credentials or allow unauthorized access; (e) attempt to access another customer’s environment; (f) use the Services for competitive benchmarking or to build a competing product; or (g) upload content Customer lacks rights to provide.

5.2 Content restrictions

The Alessia Platform is not designed for payment card data, protected health information, HR records, or export-controlled technical data unless separately agreed in writing. Customer is responsible for classifying content appropriately, including price books, pre-release specifications, engineering drawings, and customer RFQs uploaded by Users.

5.3 Reliance on Output

Output is intended as decision support to accelerate knowledgeable personnel. Customer will not solely rely on Output for safety-critical, contractual, or certification-related values. Answers cite source documents where available; Customer is responsible for verifying Output against cited sources before quoting specifications, pressure ratings, torque values, or other technical values to customers or third parties.

5.4 Users and access

Customer is responsible for all User activity under its account, for maintaining credential confidentiality, and for ensuring it has all rights and consents necessary to provide Customer Data to Back Bay.

6. Intellectual property and feedback

Back Bay retains all right, title, and interest in the Alessia Platform, software, branding, and related intellectual property. No rights are granted except as expressly set out in this Agreement.

Any suggestions or ideas Customer or Users provide for improving the Services (“Feedback”) may be used by Back Bay without restriction or compensation. Back Bay will not identify Customer in connection with Feedback without Customer’s prior written consent.

7. Confidential information

Each Party may disclose non-public information to the other that is marked confidential or should reasonably be understood as confidential, including Customer Data and the terms of this Agreement (“Confidential Information”). The receiving Party will use Confidential Information only to perform under this Agreement, protect it with reasonable care, and not disclose it except to personnel and contractors with a need to know who are bound by confidentiality obligations.

These obligations survive termination. Upon request, the receiving Party will return or destroy Confidential Information, subject to backup retention on normal rotation schedules.

8. Representations, warranties, and disclaimers

Each Party represents that it has authority to enter into this Agreement. Back Bay represents that it has the right to grant the access rights set forth herein.

Except as expressly stated above, Customer accepts the Alessia Platform “as is.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, Back Bay disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Back Bay does not warrant that Output will be accurate, complete, or suitable for any particular purpose. Output is probabilistic and generated from Customer’s documentation and retrieved passages. Back Bay does not operationally control Third Party LLMs or guarantee their continued availability. The Services are for informational and decision-support purposes; Customer and its Users are responsible for all decisions and actions based on Output.

9. Indemnification

Customer will defend and indemnify Back Bay against third-party claims arising from Customer’s misuse of the Services, violation of this Agreement, or infringement arising from Customer Data uploaded without proper rights.

Back Bay will defend Customer against third-party claims that the Alessia Platform infringes a U.S. patent, copyright, or trademark, and indemnify Customer against resulting damages, subject to standard exclusions for misuse and unauthorized combinations.

10. Limitation of liability

Except for obligations under Articles 4, 7, and 9, each Party’s cumulative liability arising out of or related to this Agreement will not exceed the fees paid by Customer during the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to liability, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100) if no fees have been paid.

In no event will either Party be liable for lost profits, loss of business, or any consequential, indirect, special, incidental, or punitive damages, except for breaches of Article 7 (Confidential Information) to the extent not prohibited by law.

11. Term and termination

11.1 Term

This Agreement commences on the Effective Date and continues until terminated as set forth herein or in an Order.

11.2 Termination

Either Party may terminate for the other Party’s material breach upon written notice, effective in thirty (30) days unless cured. Either Party may terminate an Order according to its terms.

11.3 Effect of termination

Upon termination, Customer’s access ceases. Customer receives an export of source documents in original formats plus extracted content and metadata in a machine-readable form. Customer has thirty (30) days to retrieve the export. At the close of the export window, Back Bay deletes source files, extracted text, embeddings, indexes, metadata, caches, and query logs from Customer’s dedicated environment, with backups expiring on normal rotation within ninety (90) days. A certificate of deletion is available on request.

11.4 Survival

Sections relating to fees owed, confidentiality, disclaimers, indemnification, limitation of liability, and any provisions that by their nature should survive will survive termination.

12. Miscellaneous

• Independent contractors. The Parties are independent contractors. Neither Party is the agent of the other.
• Assignment. Customer may not assign this Agreement without Back Bay’s consent, except to an Affiliate or in connection with a merger or acquisition. Back Bay may assign to an Affiliate or successor.
• Notices. Notices to Back Bay may be sent to security@backbayautomation.com. Notices to Customer may be sent to contacts provided in the Order.
• Force majeure. Neither Party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond reasonable control.
• Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Exclusive jurisdiction lies in the state or federal courts located in New York, New York.
• Amendments. Back Bay may amend these Terms by posting an updated version. Material changes become effective thirty (30) days after posting unless Customer rejects them in writing. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
• Entire agreement. This Agreement and all Orders constitute the entire agreement and supersede prior discussions on the subject matter.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to security@backbayautomation.com or through our demo request form.

See also: Privacy Policy