Terms of Use

1. About This Tool

The VDI Developmental Lab is an AI-powered learning and development tool provided by the Vertical Development Institute (VDI). It is designed to support coaches, leaders, facilitators, and program designers in their professional development through AI-powered practice, feedback, reflection, and design.

This tool is not a replacement for professional training, mentoring, or supervision. All AI-generated feedback should be used as a reflective aid, not as an authoritative assessment. Where coaching competency feedback is provided, ICF competency assessments are AI-generated approximations and do not constitute formal ICF credentialing evaluation.

2. De-identification of Transcripts

You must remove or replace:

• Client names — use pseudonyms (e.g. "Client A", "Alex")
• Organisation or company names — use generic descriptions (e.g. "the company", "a financial services firm")
• Identifying personal details — specific job titles, locations, dates, or descriptions that could identify the individual
• Contact information — phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses
• Sensitive information — health details, financial information, or other sensitive personal data

VDI accepts no liability for any personally identifiable information included in uploaded transcripts. You are responsible for ensuring appropriate de-identification before sharing any content with this tool.

3. How Your Data is Handled

VDI is committed to responsible data handling in accordance with Australian privacy law and applicable professional codes of ethics:

• Uploaded transcripts are not stored. Files are processed in memory and deleted immediately after text extraction. No copies of transcript files are retained on our servers.
• Conversation history is stored securely in your account to allow you to return to previous sessions. You can download transcripts of your own conversations with the AI mentor if you wish to retain them for yourself. You can delete any conversation from the app at any time using the sidebar.
• VDI does not have access to any conversations you have in your own account.
• AI processing is performed via Anthropic's Claude API. Under Anthropic's API terms of service, your conversations are not used to train AI models.
• No client data is shared with third parties beyond the AI processing described above.
• If you decide to close your account, all your conversation history will be automatically deleted.
• When your access expires, you will no longer be able to sign in or access your conversation history. Data associated with expired program access is deleted automatically after the program's configured retention period.

4. Your Responsibilities

By using this tool, you agree to:

• De-identify all transcripts before uploading or pasting them (as described in Section 2)
• Not upload content that violates confidentiality agreements with clients, participants, or organisations, and obtain prior permission before using transcripts for development purposes
• Use this tool solely for professional development purposes relevant to your role (coaching, leadership, facilitation, or program design)
• Not attempt to extract personal advice, therapy, or clinical guidance
• Not share your access credentials with others
• Obtain informed consent from participants before uploading team or group transcripts for AI analysis, even after de-identification
• Comply with all applicable professional standards and codes of ethics relevant to your practice (e.g. ICF Code of Ethics for coaches)

5. Usage Allowances and Fair Use

All subscription plans include a monthly usage allowance. Usage is measured by the computational cost of your interactions with the AI.

• Monthly allowance — each plan has a usage cap that resets at the start of each billing cycle. The allowance is designed to cover typical professional use.
• Model adjustment — when you reach approximately 80% of your monthly allowance, the system may switch to a lighter AI model to extend your remaining capacity. This happens automatically and does not interrupt your session.
• Allowance reached — if you reach 100% of your monthly allowance, access to AI conversations will pause until your next billing cycle, unless you purchase an add-on pack.
• Add-on packs — one-time credit packs are available for purchase and apply immediately to your current billing period. See the pricing page for options.
• Free trial limits — trial accounts include 3 conversations per sandbox over 21 days, with a 30-minute session time limit.
• Rate limits — to ensure fair access for all users, rate limits apply to message frequency. Normal use is unaffected by these limits.

VDI reserves the right to adjust usage allowances, rate limits, and pricing with reasonable notice to subscribers.

6. AI Limitations and Appropriate Use

The AI in this tool may occasionally produce inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading output. All AI-generated content is intended as a reflective aid for professional development, not as an authoritative assessment. You should:

• Apply your professional judgement when interpreting all AI-generated feedback
• Not rely solely on this tool for competency evaluation or developmental assessment
• Use feedback as one input among many in your professional development

Team and group analysis. The Team Vertical Development sandbox identifies patterns in group dynamics and is not a validated psychometric or diagnostic instrument. You must not:

• Use AI-generated developmental observations to make or inform employment decisions, including hiring, promotion, termination, performance evaluation, or role assignment
• Treat AI-generated observations about individuals as psychological assessments, diagnoses, or definitive evaluations of any person's developmental stage or capability
• Share AI-generated analysis with HR, management, or any third party as an authoritative assessment of individuals or teams
• Upload team transcripts without the informed consent of participants whose contributions are included, even if de-identified
• Upload transcripts containing confidential business information, trade secrets, proprietary strategy, financial data, or personnel matters

Program and experience design. The Developmental Designer sandbox supports reflective design thinking and does not produce validated, ready-to-deploy programs. You must not:

• Deploy AI-generated program designs without independent professional review and validation
• Present AI-generated content as evidence-based or empirically validated without independent verification
• Use AI-generated designs to create selection, gatekeeping, or assessment instruments that determine access to roles, opportunities, or resources

Leadership reflection and thinking partner. The Thinking Partner sandbox supports reflective exploration of leadership challenges and developmental questions. It is not a substitute for executive coaching, therapy, or professional supervision. You must not:

• Use AI-generated reflections as the sole basis for significant professional or organisational decisions
• Treat AI-generated developmental observations as clinical or psychological assessments
• Share confidential organisational information, proprietary strategy, or personnel matters in your conversations

VDI accepts no liability for decisions made, actions taken, or programs deployed based on AI-generated output from any sandbox.

7. Limitation of Liability

This tool is provided on an "as is" basis. VDI makes no warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of AI-generated feedback. VDI is not liable for any decisions made or actions taken based on feedback provided by this tool.

VDI reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the service at any time without notice.

8. Privacy and Regulatory Compliance

VDI's information security practices comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. For full details on what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights, see our Data Security & Privacy Policy. For questions about data handling, contact us.