This AI Acceptable Use Policy (this “Policy”) governs the access to and use of the AI Features made available by CivicPlus, LLC (“CivicPlus,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) as part of the Services. This Policy applies to the Customer and to each Authorized User who accesses or uses an AI Feature (collectively, “you”). By accessing or using any AI Feature, you agree to comply with this Policy.
This Policy is incorporated into, and forms a part of, the agreement between CivicPlus and Customer governing the Services, including the Master Services Agreement, each Statement of Work, and the Data Processing Addendum (together, the “Agreement”). A breach of this Policy is a material breach of the Agreement.
1. Purpose and Scope
CivicPlus develops technology for the public sector. We make available certain AI-enabled capabilities, marketed under the CivicPlus Intelligence brand and otherwise, that are intended to help local governments and other public-sector organizations reduce manual work, streamline workflows, surface operational insight, and improve resident and staff experiences. We design these capabilities for the public sector with human-in-the-loop safeguards, privacy protections, explainability, and adaptability to evolving regulatory requirements in mind.
This Policy sets out the rules and responsibilities that apply when you use those capabilities. It is designed to protect constituents, safeguard public trust, support your compliance with public-sector legal obligations, and preserve the integrity and security of the Services. This Policy applies in addition to, and does not replace, the other terms of the Agreement and any product-specific terms or documentation made available for an AI Feature.
1.1 Covered AI Features
This Policy applies to every AI Feature, whether now existing or later released. As of the Effective Date, AI Features include, without limitation, the capabilities offered under CivicPlus Intelligence, such as:
CivicPlus Agent: An agent within the Civic Impact Platform that answers questions through native integrations with CivicPlus products;
CivicPlus Athena: An agent within the CivicPlus Staff Center for finding answers, completing actions, and streamlining workflows;
AI Content Advisor: An auditing and reporting tool that reviews Municipal Websites content and provides guidance on answer-engine and search-engine optimization and content quality;
AI Editing Assistant in Municipal Websites: An assistant to create content, improve writing, and summarize information;
AI Editing Assistant in Agenda and Meeting Management: An assistant to draft, polish, and format agenda items and minutes;
AI category and photo analysis in SeeClickFix 311 CRM: Ttools that analyze submitted photos and suggest service-request categories;
CivicPlus Chatbot and CodeComply: AI-powered resident service and AI-assisted plan review, respectively; any other feature, functionality, or component of the Services that incorporates, uses, depends on, or employs AI Technology.
2. Relationship to the Agreement; Order of Precedence
Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Policy have the meanings given to them in the Agreement (including the Master Services Agreement and the Data Processing Addendum). This Policy supplements those documents.
In the event of a direct conflict between this Policy and another component of the Agreement, the order of precedence set out in the Agreement controls, and the Master Services Agreement (including its AI-related provisions) controls over any conflicting provision of this Policy. Nothing in this Policy expands CivicPlus’s warranties or limits the disclaimers, exclusions, or limitations of liability set out in the Agreement.
This Policy is governed by, and construed in accordance with, the governing law specified in the Master Services Agreement.
3. Definitions
The following definitions apply to this Policy. Where a term is also defined in the Agreement, the Agreement definition applies and is restated here only for convenience.
“AI Customer Data” means data and content provided or made available by or on behalf of Customer or an Authorized User into an AI Feature, together with Generated Content, as more fully defined in the Master Services Agreement. AI Customer Data is Customer Data.
“AI Feature” means any feature, functionality, or component of the Services that incorporates, uses, depends on, or employs AI Technology, as defined in the Master Services Agreement.
“AI Technology” means machine learning, deep learning, and other artificial intelligence technologies (including large language models, neural networks, and related tools and methodologies), as defined in the Master Services Agreement.
“Authorized User” or “User” means an individual whom Customer designates or authorizes to access and use the Services on Customer’s behalf, as described in the Master Services Agreement.
“Consumer” means an identified or identifiable person to whom Personal Information relates, including residents and other constituents, as defined in the Data Processing Addendum.
“Generated Content” means content generated or otherwise output from an AI Feature in response to use of the AI Feature by or on behalf of Customer or its Authorized Users, as defined in the Master Services Agreement. Generated Content is Customer Data.
“High-Impact Decision” means a decision or determination that produces a legal, eligibility, financial, enforcement, safety, employment, housing, or similarly significant effect on a Consumer or other individual, for example, decisions about benefits, licensing or permitting, code enforcement, public-records dispositions, public-safety responses, or the provision of or denial of a government service.
“Personal Information” means personal information, personal data, or personally identifiable information as defined under applicable Data Protection Laws, as set out in the Data Processing Addendum.
“Data Protection Laws” means the laws and regulations applicable to the Processing of Personal Information under the Agreement, as set out in the Data Processing Addendum, including applicable U.S. State Privacy Laws and PIPEDA.
“Service Data,” “Resident Account Data,” and “Co-Controlled Data” have the meanings given to them in the Data Processing Addendum, which also allocates the parties’ respective roles as controller, processor, independent controller, or co-controller for each category.
“Training Data” means data and content used to train, fine-tune, update, validate, test, retrain, or improve AI Technology, excluding AI Customer Data, as defined in the Master Services Agreement.
“Usage Data” and “Aggregated Data” have the meanings given to them in the Master Services Agreement.
4. General Responsibilities and Acceptable Use
You are responsible for all activity that occurs through your accounts in connection with the AI Features, and for ensuring that every Authorized User complies with this Policy. You must use the AI Features only for your legitimate, lawful, public-sector business purposes and in accordance with the Agreement, applicable law, and any product-specific documentation.
You agree to:
Use the AI Features in a respectful, lawful, and good-faith manner;
Maintain meaningful human oversight of AI Features and their outputs, consistent with Section 5;
Verify the accuracy, completeness, and appropriateness of Generated Content before relying on it or publishing it, consistent with Section 6;
Ensure you have all rights, consents, and authority necessary for the data and content you submit to an AI Feature, consistent with the Master Services Agreement and Data Processing Addendum; and
Comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and your own policies governing the use of artificial intelligence by public-sector organizations.
5. Human Oversight and Accountability
AI Features are tools that assist, but do not replace, the judgment of qualified personnel. You, and not CivicPlus, are accountable for the decisions you make and the actions you take with the assistance of, or based on the output of, an AI Feature.
No sole reliance for High-Impact Decisions. You must not use an AI Feature as the sole or automated basis for a High-Impact Decision. A qualified human must meaningfully review the relevant Generated Content, exercise independent judgment, and remain responsible for the final decision. Where applicable law affords an individual the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, you are responsible for honoring that right.
You are responsible for establishing appropriate review, escalation, and documentation procedures for your use of AI Features, including procedures consistent with due-process, equal-protection, public-notice, and other obligations applicable to government action. You must not disable, bypass, or circumvent any human-in-the-loop control, review step, or other safeguard that CivicPlus builds into an AI Feature.
6. Accuracy, Verification, and Limitations of AI
AI Technology is rapidly evolving and is inherently limited. AI Features may produce output that is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, biased, or otherwise inappropriate, and may “hallucinate” or generate plausible-sounding content that is false. The AI Features are provided “as is” and subject to the warranty disclaimers in the Agreement; CivicPlus does not warrant that Generated Content will be accurate, complete, current, or fit for any particular purpose.
Before relying on, distributing, or publishing any Generated Content, you must independently review and verify it against authoritative sources. This is especially important for content directed to the public, incorporated into official records, or used to inform any government decision.
No professional advice. AI Features are not a substitute for professional judgment and do not provide legal, financial, medical, engineering, or other professional advice. Information submitted to an AI Feature is not protected by attorney-client privilege or any comparable professional confidentiality obligation. You should consult a qualified professional where professional advice is required.
7. Prohibited Uses
7.1 Unlawful, harmful, or abusive content and conduct
Violating any applicable law, regulation, or court order, or facilitating any illegal activity;
Generating, soliciting, or distributing content that is libelous, defamatory, harassing, abusive, threatening, fraudulent, deceptive, excessively profane, obscene, or hateful;
Generating sexually explicit content, or any content that sexually exploits, endangers, or is otherwise harmful to minors;
Promoting or glorifying violence, terrorism, extremism, self-harm, or content that advocates racial or ethnic intolerance or unlawful discrimination against individuals or groups;
Creating or knowingly disseminating misinformation or disinformation, deepfakes, or other content intended to deceive the public, impersonate any individual or entity, or misrepresent the official position of a government body;
Infringing or misappropriating any third party’s intellectual property, publicity, privacy, or other rights, or plagiarizing third-party content.
7.2 Inputs that void protections
Consistent with the Master Services Agreement, you must not submit to an AI Feature any input that is infringing, inappropriate, biased, illegal, or otherwise improper, and you must not modify Generated Content in a manner that renders it infringing, misleading, unlawful, or harmful. You acknowledge that doing so, or disabling built-in safety measures, may relieve CivicPlus of its indemnification obligations under the Agreement.
7.3 Data, privacy, and sensitive information
Submitting Personal Information or other data into an AI Feature without all rights, consents, and lawful bases required under the Master Services Agreement, the Data Processing Addendum, and applicable Data Protection Laws;
Submitting sensitive or specially regulated data into an AI Feature that is not designed or designated to receive it, including, for example, protected health information, criminal-justice information subject to CJIS, student records subject to FERPA, payment-card data, biometric identifiers, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive categories, except where the specific AI Feature and your configuration are documented as appropriate for that data;
Using an AI Feature to conduct surveillance, profiling, social scoring, or tracking in a manner prohibited by law or that infringes individuals’ civil rights or civil liberties;
Re-identifying any individual from de-identified, anonymized, or aggregated data.
7.4 Security and integrity of the AI Features
Attempting to gain unauthorized access to, disrupt, or interfere with any AI Feature, AI Technology, model, or underlying system;
Engaging in prompt injection, jailbreaking, model evasion, adversarial inputs, data poisoning, or other attempts to manipulate, corrupt, or circumvent an AI Feature’s safeguards, guardrails, or intended behavior;
Probing, scanning, or testing the vulnerability of an AI Feature, or attempting to extract model weights, parameters, prompts, Training Data, or other non-public components, except as expressly authorized in writing by CivicPlus;
Introducing malware or any code intended to harm, overburden, or improperly access the Services.
7.5 Intellectual property and competitive use
Using the Services, CivicPlus Property, AI Features, or any output or functionality of the Services to train, develop, or improve any artificial-intelligence or machine-learning model, except with CivicPlus’s prior written consent (this restriction does not apply to Customer Data that has been exported from the Services through available export functionality), consistent with the Master Services Agreement;
Reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any AI Feature or AI Technology, or using an AI Feature to build or assist in building a competing product or service;
Removing, obscuring, or altering any AI-related notice, watermark, label, or attribution that CivicPlus or an AI Feature applies to Generated Content.
8. Privacy, Personal Information, and Data Governance
Your use of AI Features must comply with the Data Processing Addendum and applicable Data Protection Laws. The Data Processing Addendum allocates the parties’ respective roles, and CivicPlus’s and Customer’s respective responsibilities, for Service Data, Resident Account Data, and Co-Controlled Data. Nothing in this Policy alters that allocation.
As between the parties, and consistent with the Master Services Agreement and Data Processing Addendum, you are responsible for: determining what data you submit to an AI Feature; providing legally sufficient privacy notices to Consumers regarding your processing activities and your use of AI; establishing a lawful basis for your processing; responding to Consumer requests relating to Service Data and municipal processing activities; and conducting any data protection impact assessment required for your uses. CivicPlus will provide reasonable assistance as described in the Data Processing Addendum.
You should assume that interactions with AI Features may be logged, and you acknowledge that AI interaction logs maintained within the CivicPlus account system constitute Resident Account Data for which CivicPlus acts as an independent controller, as described in the Data Processing Addendum. CivicPlus’s use of AI Customer Data is limited as set out in the Agreement, and CivicPlus will not use Customer Data in identifiable form to train, develop, or improve AI or machine-learning models without Customer’s express written consent, consistent with the Master Services Agreement.
9. Public-Sector and Records Obligations
You are responsible for ensuring that your use of AI Features is consistent with the legal obligations that apply to government and other public-sector organizations, including:
Public records and open-government laws. Generated Content, prompts, AI interaction logs, and AI-assisted records (such as AI-drafted agenda items or minutes) may be subject to public-records, archival, retention, and open-meeting laws. You are solely responsible for determining the records status of such materials, for applying appropriate retention, and for responding to public-records requests, consistent with the Data Processing Addendum.
Transparency and disclosure. You are responsible for being transparent about your use of AI Features where required by law or appropriate to maintain public trust, including disclosing or labeling AI-generated or AI-assisted content directed to the public where applicable.
Accessibility. Consistent with the Master Services Agreement, you are responsible for ensuring the ongoing accessibility of content and configurations in your use of the Services, including Generated Content you publish, in line with applicable accessibility laws and guidelines such as Title II of the ADA and Section 508.
Nondiscrimination and fairness. You must not use AI Features in a manner that results in unlawful discrimination, and you are responsible for monitoring your AI-assisted processes for disparate or biased outcomes affecting protected classes.
10. Compliance with AI-Specific Laws
The legal landscape for artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly at the federal, state, and local levels, and some jurisdictions impose specific obligations on the deployers of AI systems—particularly for consequential decisions affecting individuals. You are responsible for identifying and complying with the AI-specific laws, regulations, and guidance applicable to your use of AI Features, which may include obligations relating to notice, impact assessments, human review, recordkeeping, and nondiscrimination. CivicPlus will, as set out in the Master Services Agreement, reasonably cooperate with audits and assessments and provide documentation reasonably necessary for you to confirm compliance or complete assessments required under applicable AI-related laws.
11. Third-Party AI Components and Integrations
AI Features may incorporate or rely on third-party AI models, services, or components, and you may choose to integrate the Services with third-party applications. Your use of any such third-party application may be subject to separate terms between you and the third-party provider, and CivicPlus is not responsible for third-party services except to the extent expressly stated in the Agreement. You are responsible for evaluating the suitability of any integration for your intended use and the data involved.
12. Ownership of AI Customer Data and Generated Content
As set out in the Master Services Agreement, Customer retains all right, title, and interest in and to AI Customer Data, including Generated Content, and AI Customer Data is treated as Customer Data and as Customer’s Confidential Information under the Agreement. You remain responsible for the accuracy, quality, legality, and appropriateness of AI Customer Data and Generated Content, and for ensuring that your use of Generated Content does not infringe the rights of any third party.
13. Monitoring, Suspension, and Enforcement
CivicPlus may, but is not obligated to, monitor use of the AI Features to operate, secure, and improve the Services and to enforce this Policy, consistent with the Agreement and CivicPlus’s Privacy Policy. CivicPlus retains the right (but not the obligation) to remove or disable Generated Content or inputs that violate this Policy or the Master Services Agreement’s content standards.
A breach of this Policy is a material breach of the Agreement. In addition to any remedy available under the Agreement or at law, CivicPlus may, consistent with the Master Services Agreement, suspend access to an AI Feature or the Services where there is a threat to the technical security or integrity of the Services or a material violation of applicable law in connection with your use, and may pursue termination for an uncured material breach. CivicPlus will use commercially reasonable efforts to limit any suspension in scope and duration and to restore access promptly once the underlying risk is mitigated.
14. Reporting Misuse and AI Incidents
If you become aware of any violation of this Policy, any apparent malfunction or harmful output of an AI Feature, or any security or privacy incident involving an AI Feature, you must promptly notify CivicPlus. Security and data-incident notifications should follow the process and timelines in the Master Services Agreement and Data Processing Addendum. You may report concerns through the CivicPlus Help Center at civicplus.help or to your CivicPlus account contact, and privacy matters may be directed to privacy@civicplus.com.
15. Changes to this Policy
Due to the rapidly changing nature of artificial intelligence and the applicable legal landscape, CivicPlus may update this Policy from time to time, consistent with the change-management and notice provisions of the Master Services Agreement. Where CivicPlus believes a change is a material alteration, CivicPlus will provide notice as described in the Master Services Agreement. Your continued use of the AI Features following an update constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy, subject to any objection rights set out in the Master Services Agreement.
16. Contact
Questions about this Policy may be directed to your CivicPlus account manager or to the CivicPlus Help Center at civicplus.help. CivicPlus, LLC is located at 302 South 4th Street, Suite 500, Manhattan, KS 66502.