Privacy Policy

Encode AI

Last updated: August 6, 2026

This Privacy Notice describes how Encode AI Corporation (“Encode AI,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and shares personal information when you:

Visit www.encodeai.org, tnforaisafety.org, or any other website of ours that links to this Privacy Notice (collectively, the “Sites”)
Sign up for our email updates through our Sites
Donate to us through our Sites
Apply for a job with us
Engage with us at events or in other related ways

A note on our organizational structure. Encode AI operates through two affiliated entities: Encode AI Corporation, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, and Encode Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. This Privacy Notice covers both entities, and where we share information between them, we do so as described in Section 4 below.

If you do not agree with our practices, please do not use our Sites. Questions or concerns? Contact us at privacy@encodeai.org.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

What we collect. Contact information you choose to give us (your name, email address, and zip code) when you sign up for updates; your name, contact information, and donation amount when you donate; job application materials if you apply to work with us; and limited technical information collected automatically when you visit our Sites.

What we don’t do. We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for targeted advertising. We do not run advertising trackers on our Sites. We do not collect sensitive personal information.

Why we collect it. To send you updates about our work and AI policy developments in your state, process and acknowledge donations, evaluate job applications, keep our Sites secure, and understand how our Sites are used.

Young people. Engaging young people is central to our mission. Our Sites are open to visitors of all ages, but we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 18, please review Section 8.

Your rights. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal information. See Sections 9 and 11, or contact us at privacy@encodeai.org.

What Information Do We Collect?
How Do We Use Your Information?
What Legal Bases Do We Rely On? (EEA/UK Visitors)
When and With Whom Do We Share Your Information?
Cookies and Analytics
How Long Do We Keep Your Information?
How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?
Young People and Our Services
What Are Your Privacy Rights?
Do-Not-Track and Global Privacy Control
US State Privacy Rights
Updates to This Notice
How to Contact Us
How to Review, Update, or Delete Your Data

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Information you provide to us

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you sign up for updates, donate, contact us, apply for a job, or otherwise interact with us. Depending on the interaction, this may include:

Newsletter sign-ups: your name, email address, and zip code. We ask for your zip code so we can share AI policy developments and advocacy opportunities relevant to your state.
Donations: if you donate through our Sites, your payment is processed by Stripe, our payment processor. Stripe collects your payment card details directly; we do not receive or store full payment card numbers. We receive information such as your name, email address, billing address, and donation amount so that we can acknowledge your donation and meet our recordkeeping obligations. Stripe’s handling of your payment information is governed by its own privacy policy, available at stripe.com/privacy.
Job application materials: if you apply for a position with us, we collect the information you submit, such as your name, contact details, resume, work history, and responses to application questions.
Communications: the contents of messages you send us, such as emails or inquiries.

We do not collect or process sensitive personal information (such as racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health information, or precise geolocation), and we ask that you not include it in messages to us.

All personal information you provide should be true, complete, and accurate, and you should notify us of any changes.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our Sites, we automatically collect limited technical information, such as IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, approximate location derived from IP address, and information about how and when you use our Sites (such as pages viewed and date/time stamps). This information does not identify you by name. It is collected through server logs and the analytics tools described in Section 5, and is used to maintain the security and operation of our Sites and for internal analytics.

Information from third parties

We do not collect personal information about you from third parties, and we do not purchase personal information from data brokers.

2. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use personal information to:

Send you updates about our work, AI policy developments, and opportunities to get involved, consistent with your contact preferences
Process and acknowledge donations, and comply with related tax, accounting, and reporting requirements
Evaluate and respond to job applications
Respond to your questions and requests
Maintain the security and functionality of our Sites, including fraud and abuse prevention
Understand how our Sites are used so we can improve them
Comply with legal obligations, including nonprofit, tax, campaign finance, and lobbying disclosure requirements
Protect the vital interests of any person, such as preventing harm

We will not use your personal information for materially different purposes without telling you and, where required, obtaining your consent.

3. WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON? (EEA/UK VISITORS)

Our Sites are operated from the United States and are directed to a US audience, but they are accessible worldwide. If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we process your personal information only where we have a valid legal basis under the GDPR or UK GDPR:

Consent — for example, when you sign up for our email updates. You may withdraw consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or contacting us.
Legitimate interests — for example, operating and securing our Sites and communicating with people who contact us, where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
Legal obligations — where processing is necessary to comply with applicable law.
Vital interests — where necessary to protect the safety of any person.

4. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION?

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for targeted advertising. We share personal information only in the following circumstances:

Service providers. We share information with vendors who perform services on our behalf and are limited in how they may use your information. These currently include Airtable (which we use to manage newsletter sign-ups and job applications), Stripe (payment processing), Vercel (website hosting), Google Analytics (site analytics, as described in Section 5), and Termly (privacy and consent management). We may use additional or replacement providers in these categories over time.
Between our affiliated entities. Encode AI Corporation (our 501(c)(4)) and Encode Research Foundation (our 501(c)(3)) may share supporter contact information with each other so that each organization can communicate with you about its work. Both entities honor this Privacy Notice and your contact preferences, and you may opt out of communications from either entity at any time.
Legal requirements. We may disclose information where required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or where we believe disclosure is necessary to comply with lobbying, campaign finance, or tax disclosure obligations, exercise or defend legal claims, or protect the rights, property, or safety of any person.
Business transfers. If we are involved in a reorganization, merger, or transfer of some or all of our operations to another organization, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Notice.

5. COOKIES AND ANALYTICS

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies to operate our Sites, remember your preferences, and understand site usage. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not permit third-party advertising networks to track visitors on our Sites.

The cookies on our Sites fall into two categories:

Essential cookies, which are necessary for the Sites to function, such as remembering your cookie consent choice. These cannot be switched off.
Analytics cookies (Google Analytics), which help us understand how visitors use our Sites, such as which pages are visited and the general geographic regions visitors come from. Google Analytics collects information such as pages viewed and approximate location derived from IP address. You can opt out of Google Analytics at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, and for more about Google’s practices, see the Google Privacy & Terms page.

A current, automatically updated list of the specific cookies in use on each Site — including their provider, purpose, and duration — is available through the cookie settings link in our consent banner. You can change or withdraw your cookie consent at any time through that same link. Most browsers also allow you to refuse or remove cookies in your browser settings, though some Site features may not function properly as a result.

6. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Notice, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law. As a general matter:

Supporter contact information is retained while you remain subscribed to our communications. If you unsubscribe, we retain the minimal information needed to honor your opt-out.
Donation records are retained as required by tax and accounting law, generally at least seven years.
Job application materials are retained for up to two years after the conclusion of the relevant hiring process, unless you ask us to delete them sooner or we are required to retain them longer.
Technical log and analytics data is retained for limited periods consistent with the default settings of our hosting and analytics providers.

When we no longer need personal information, we delete or anonymize it, or, where that is not immediately possible (for example, in backup archives), we securely store it and isolate it from further processing until deletion is possible.

7. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

We use appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect the personal information we process, including access controls and encryption in transit. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please use our Sites within a secure environment.

8. YOUNG PEOPLE AND OUR SERVICES

Encode AI was founded by young people, and engaging young people in AI policy is central to our mission. Our Sites are informational and open to visitors of all ages.

Children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child under 13 has provided us personal information, please contact us at privacy@encodeai.org and we will promptly delete it.

Visitors aged 13–17. If you are between 13 and 17, you are welcome to browse our Sites and, where permitted by the law of your jurisdiction, sign up for our updates. We encourage you to involve a parent or guardian in your engagement with us. We do not sell any personal information, including that of minors, and we do not use minors’ information for targeted advertising.

9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

Depending on your location, you may have rights regarding your personal information, including the right to (i) request access to and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) request correction or deletion, (iii) restrict or object to processing, (iv) data portability, and (v) withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@encodeai.org or use the contact details in Section 13. We will consider and respond to requests in accordance with applicable law. We will never discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Unsubscribing from emails. Every newsletter or update email we send includes an unsubscribe link. You may also email us to update your contact preferences at any time.

EEA, UK, and Swiss visitors. If you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. UK visitors may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint; helpline 0303 123 1113). Swiss visitors may contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. We would appreciate the chance to address your concerns first: if you contact us directly, we will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate without undue delay, and explain the outcome.

10. DO-NOT-TRACK AND GLOBAL PRIVACY CONTROL

Because we do not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising, opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control do not change how we process your information — there is no sale or sharing to opt out of. No uniform standard for Do-Not-Track browser signals has been finalized, and we do not respond to DNT signals at this time. If our practices or applicable standards change, we will update this Notice.

11. US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS

Some US states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws granting residents rights over their personal information. Many of these laws do not apply to nonprofit organizations or to organizations of our size. Nevertheless, as a matter of good practice, we extend the following to all US residents regardless of state:

The right to know whether we process your personal data and to access it
The right to correct inaccuracies
The right to request deletion
The right to obtain a copy of personal data you provided to us
The right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights

Categories of personal information collected (past 12 months): identifiers and contact details, such as name, email address, and zip code (collected); donation transaction information (collected); professional and employment-related information, for job applicants (collected); internet activity information via analytics cookies (collected). We do not collect biometric information, precise geolocation, protected classification characteristics, audio or video recordings, education records, or sensitive personal information, and we do not draw inferences from your information to build profiles about you.

We have not sold personal information or shared it for targeted advertising in the preceding twelve months, and we will not do so.

How to exercise your rights. Email privacy@encodeai.org. We will verify your identity using the information associated with your request; we may ask for additional information solely for verification and security purposes. You may designate an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf with proof of valid authorization. If we decline a request, you may appeal by emailing privacy@encodeai.org with the subject line “Privacy Appeal,” and we will respond in writing with our reasons. If your appeal is denied, you may contact your state attorney general.

California “Shine the Light.” California residents may request, once per year and free of charge, information about personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

12. UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by a revised “Last updated” date. If we make material changes, we will post a prominent notice on our Sites or notify you directly. We encourage you to review this Notice periodically.

13. HOW TO CONTACT US

Email: privacy@encodeai.org

Post: Encode AI Corporation 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20036 United States

14. HOW TO REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE YOUR DATA

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you, and details about how we have processed it, by emailing privacy@encodeai.org. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law.