Terms of Service

What Flash Papers does

Flash Papers turns an academic paper you submit into a single-page, interactive HTML explainer generated by a frontier AI model of your choice — Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, or a model routed through OpenRouter. Generations run on your own API key for the provider you select.

Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 13 years old and able to form a binding agreement to use Flash Papers. You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping access to your Google sign-in secure.

Bring your own key

To generate papers you must supply your own API key for a supported provider — Google Gemini, Anthropic, or OpenRouter. You are solely responsible for that key, for any usage charges the provider bills you, and for complying with that provider’s API terms (for example, Google’s Gemini API terms, Anthropic’s API terms, or OpenRouter’s terms). We do not charge you for generations, and we are not responsible for costs you incur with your chosen provider. We may apply reasonable rate limits to protect the service.

Acceptable use

You agree not to use Flash Papers to:

• submit content you do not have the right to use, or infringe anyone’s intellectual property, privacy, or other rights;
• generate unlawful, harmful, harassing, or deceptive content;
• attempt to overload, disrupt, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorized access to the service or its infrastructure;
• circumvent the bring-your-own-key model, rate limits, or other technical controls;
• use the service in violation of any applicable law.

Content and intellectual property

The academic papers you submit belong to their respective authors and publishers; you are responsible for ensuring you have the right to process them. As between you and us, you own the explainer output generated from your input, and we claim no ownership over it. You are responsible for how you use and share that output.

The Flash Papers name, branding, and the application itself remain our property. Generated papers are published at a public, shareable URL; do not generate content you wish to keep private.

Reporting infringing or abusive content

If you believe a published paper infringes your copyright or otherwise violates these Terms, email us at [email protected] with a description of the content and its URL. We will review reports and remove infringing or abusive papers.

AI-generated content disclaimer

Flash Papers output is generated by an AI model and may contain errors, omissions, or misinterpretations of the underlying paper. It is provided for convenience and is not a substitute for reading the original work or for professional, academic, or other expert advice. Always verify important details against the source paper.

Service availability

The service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service at any time, and we do not guarantee that generated papers will remain available indefinitely.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, revenue, or profits, arising out of or related to your use of the service — including any charges billed to you by your chosen AI provider (such as Google, Anthropic, or OpenRouter) for API usage. Our total liability for any claim relating to the service will not exceed the amount you paid us for it, which is zero.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising out of content you submit or generate, or your violation of these Terms or of applicable law.

Termination

You may stop using the service at any time. You can remove your saved API key and permanently delete your entire account and all associated data from your dashboard. We may suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms or use the service in a way that risks harm to it or to others.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by applicable law, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute will be resolved in a court of competent jurisdiction. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Your continued use of the service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email us at [email protected].