User Terms & Conditions
Effective Date: May 29, 2026
Project Mongoose, Inc., a Virginia corporation, doing business as HIO ("HIO")
Welcome to HIO. These User Terms & Conditions ("User Terms") govern your access to and use of the HIO website, applications, and services (collectively, the "Services") provided by Project Mongoose, Inc., a Virginia corporation, doing business as HIO ("HIO," "we," "us," or "our"). By accessing or using the Services, you agree to these User Terms. If you do not agree, do not access or use the Services.
Please read Section 13 (Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver) carefully. It requires most disputes to be resolved by individual arbitration and waives your right to participate in a class action.
1. Who We Are and What HIO Does
HIO operates the website at heyhio.com and provides an AI-powered knowledge assistant to organizations (each, a "Customer") and their authorized personnel and affiliates. Customers ingest their own structured documentation and knowledge into a Customer-specific Vector Store, and HIO's AI Assistant answers questions from the Customer's authorized personnel by retrieving relevant content and applying one or more third-party foundation models.
The Services may be accessed by two categories of user:
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"Studio Users" — HIO personnel (or Customer-designated personnel where authorized in writing) who monitor and manage AI Assistants through HIO's administrative interface (the "Studio"); and
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"Authorized Personnel" — employees, agents, contractors, or affiliates of a Customer who use the AI Assistant in connection with the Customer's business (for example, an on-site property manager or an affiliated sales agent).
Throughout these User Terms, "you" refers to whichever category of user is accessing the Services. Where you are accessing the Services in the course of your employment, engagement, or affiliation with a Customer, you also represent that you are authorized by that Customer to do so.
2. Eligibility and Accounts
2.1 Age.
You must be at least 18 years old to create an account on the Services. The Services are not directed to and may not be used by anyone under 13 (or under 16 in jurisdictions where the GDPR-K minimum applies). HIO does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under those ages; if you believe a child has provided personal information to HIO, please contact us at connect@heyhio.com.
2.2 Account Security.
You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You will notify HIO promptly at connect@heyhio.com of any unauthorized use of your account or any other security incident. HIO is not responsible for losses resulting from your failure to maintain the security of your credentials.
2.3 No Account Transfer.
You may not transfer your account to any other person. HIO may suspend or terminate your account if HIO reasonably believes you have violated these User Terms or applicable law.
3. Interaction with an AI System
THE AI ASSISTANT IS AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM. WHEN YOU INTERACT WITH THE AI ASSISTANT, YOU ARE COMMUNICATING WITH AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM, NOT A HUMAN.
The AI Assistant uses retrieval-augmented generation: it retrieves relevant content from the Customer's Vector Store and applies one or more third-party large language models to generate a response. Responses are generated automatically and may be incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise inappropriate for a particular use case. You should not rely on responses from the AI Assistant for important decisions without independent verification. The AI Assistant is not a substitute for professional advice (legal, medical, financial, or otherwise).
Where applicable law requires, HIO and the Customer will label content generated by the AI Assistant as AI-generated. You should treat the AI Assistant's responses as AI-generated regardless of whether such a label appears.
If you believe you are experiencing a medical, safety, or legal emergency, call your local emergency number or seek qualified professional help immediately. The AI Assistant is not designed for emergencies.
4. AI Acceptable Use
You will not use the Services, and will not attempt or assist any other person to use the Services, to:
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engage in any activity that violates applicable law, including without limitation laws prohibiting fraud, defamation, harassment, discrimination, child sexual abuse material, or the unauthorized practice of a regulated profession;
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attempt to manipulate the AI Assistant through prompt injection, jailbreaking, or similar techniques in a manner that bypasses HIO's safety controls;
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generate deceptive content intended to impersonate another person without consent, or create deepfakes of any individual without that individual's consent and lawful basis;
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use AI Assistant outputs as the sole or substantial basis for any decision that materially affects another person's access to housing, employment, education, financial services, healthcare, insurance, legal services, or essential government services (each, a "Consequential Decision") unless the Customer through which you access the Services has authorized that use in writing and has separately complied with applicable AI laws;
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use AI Assistant outputs to train, fine-tune, or evaluate any machine-learning model that competes with the Services;
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reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the underlying model weights, system prompts, or other proprietary aspects of the AI System;
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upload any content you do not have the lawful right to share with the AI Assistant; or
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otherwise use the Services in any manner that violates these User Terms, the Customer's applicable policies, or any agreement between you and the Customer.
HIO may suspend or terminate your access to the Services if HIO reasonably believes you have violated this Section 4.
5. Your Content
You may submit questions, comments, files, or other content to the Services ("Your Content"). You retain ownership of Your Content. You grant HIO a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to process Your Content as necessary to provide the Services. As between you and HIO, your employer or principal (i.e., the Customer) is the "controller" of Your Content for data-protection purposes, except where you submit Your Content as an individual outside the scope of any Customer relationship.
You represent that Your Content does not infringe any third party's rights and complies with applicable law.
6. Privacy
HIO's collection and use of Personal Data in connection with the Services is described in the Privacy Policy at heyhio.com/privacy-policy. Please review it carefully. By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read the Privacy Policy.
7. Intellectual Property
The Services, including all software, content, designs, logos, and trademarks (other than Your Content and Customer Data), are owned by HIO or its licensors and are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. HIO grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services in accordance with these User Terms. No other rights are granted by implication, estoppel, or otherwise.
8. Third-Party Services and AI Sub-Processors
The Services may include features that interact with third-party services (for example, AI model providers). HIO's contracts with its AI model Sub-Processors prohibit them from using inputs derived from Customer Data to train their own models. HIO is not responsible for the acts or omissions of third-party services that are not Sub-Processors of HIO.
9. Electronic Communications
By using the Services, you consent to receive electronic communications from HIO, including notices, disclosures, and other communications related to your use of the Services. All electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that the communication be in writing. If you receive text-message communications from HIO, those communications are subject to HIO's SMS terms at heyhio.com/sms-terms-and-conditions, including the right to opt out by replying STOP.
10. Disclaimers
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." HIO DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. HIO DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT AI ASSISTANT OUTPUTS WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR APPROPRIATE FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE.
Nothing in these User Terms limits any non-waivable warranty or right you may have under applicable law as a consumer.
11. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HIO WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES. IN NO EVENT WILL HIO'S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some or all of these limitations may not apply to you.
12. Indemnification
To the extent permitted by applicable law (and subject to any non-waivable consumer-protection rights), you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless HIO and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any third-party claim arising out of (a) your violation of these User Terms, (b) your violation of applicable law, (c) your infringement of any third party's rights, or (d) Your Content.
13. Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver
This Section 13 applies to disputes between you and HIO. It includes a binding individual-arbitration provision and a class-action waiver. Please read it carefully.
13.1 Informal Resolution.
Before initiating arbitration, you agree to first contact HIO at connect@heyhio.com with a written description of the dispute and the relief sought. The parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally within sixty (60) days.
13.2 Binding Arbitration.
If the dispute is not resolved informally within sixty (60) days, either party may submit the dispute to binding individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (or, at the parties' mutual election, the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules). The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator, in English, with the seat of arbitration in Richmond, Virginia (or, at your election if you are an individual consumer, in the county in which you reside or remotely). Judgment on the arbitrator's award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
13.3 Class-Action Waiver.
YOU AND HIO AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN US WILL BE BROUGHT ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS PART OF ANY CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims of multiple parties or preside over any class or representative proceeding. If this class-action waiver is held to be unenforceable, the remainder of Section 13 will be unenforceable and the dispute will be resolved in court under Section 13.5.
13.4 Exceptions.
The following claims are not subject to arbitration: (a) claims that qualify for small-claims court; (b) claims for injunctive or other equitable relief to protect intellectual property or confidential information; and (c) claims that applicable law expressly prohibits from arbitration.
13.5 Court Disputes.
If a dispute is not subject to arbitration, the dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Richmond, Virginia. You and HIO consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
13.6 Thirty-Day Opt-Out.
You may opt out of this Section 13 by sending written notice to connect@heyhio.com within thirty (30) days of first accepting these User Terms, stating that you opt out of arbitration. Opt-out does not affect any other provision of these User Terms.
14. Governing Law
These User Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. If you are an EU resident, the laws of your country of residence may provide additional protections that are not waived by this provision.
15. Your State and Country Rights
Depending on where you reside, you may have additional rights with respect to your Personal Data. The Privacy Policy describes those rights and how to exercise them. To exercise those rights, please contact connect@heyhio.com.
16. Changes to These User Terms
HIO may update these User Terms from time to time. HIO will post the updated User Terms with a new Effective Date. For non-material updates, the updated User Terms take effect on posting. For material changes, HIO will give you reasonable advance notice (by email, in-product notification, or a banner on the Services) and will require you to affirmatively accept the updated User Terms before continuing to use the Services.
17. International Use
HIO operates the Services from the United States. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. The Services may not be available in all jurisdictions.
18. Contact
Questions about these User Terms? Contact:
Project Mongoose, Inc. d/b/a HIO
1717 East Cary St., Richmond, VA 23223