AI Ethics and Transparency Policy

1. What AI We Use

VacayNest uses the Claude API, developed by Anthropic, to power our trip recommendation, budget negotiation, and itinerary generation features. Claude is a large language model. When you interact with VacayNest’s planning features, your inputs are processed by Claude to generate personalized suggestions.

We do not use facial recognition, behavioral advertising AI, or any AI system designed to manipulate user decisions. The only AI in VacayNest is the planning assistant.

2. What We Send to the AI

When you use AI-powered features, the following data from your VacayNest account may be included in the prompt sent to Claude’s API:

• Traveler names, ages, and roles within your household
• Dietary restrictions and food preferences
• Activity pace preferences (e.g., relaxed, moderate, adventurous)
• Medical considerations you have voluntarily entered (e.g., insulin-dependent traveler, mobility limitations)
• Your budget range (minimum and maximum)
• Your stated destination or destination preferences
• Travel dates and trip duration
• The text of your messages in the planning conversation

We are transparent: your planning data does leave VacayNest’s infrastructure when you use AI features. It is sent to Anthropic’s API over an encrypted connection. We do not include payment information, passwords, or data unrelated to your trip in AI prompts.

3. What the AI Cannot Do

We want to be clear about what VacayNest’s AI is not:

• It is not a medical professional. Health considerations in your Household Profile make recommendations more relevant — they do not substitute for medical advice from a qualified provider.
• It is not a licensed travel agent. Recommendations do not carry any guarantee of accuracy, availability, or safety.
• It does not access real-time pricing or live inventory. Budget estimates are AI-generated approximations based on general knowledge, not live flight or hotel searches.
• It does not learn from your individual conversations over time. Each session is independent; your history is not used to train the model.
• It cannot verify visa requirements, entry restrictions, or current travel advisories. Always check official government sources before booking.

4. Human Oversight

VacayNest AI outputs are recommendations, not decisions. Every itinerary, budget estimate, or destination suggestion the AI generates requires your review and confirmation before anything is booked or acted upon. VacayNest does not automatically purchase flights, reserve hotels, or take any action on your behalf. You are always in control.

5. How We Avoid Bias and Harm

We have taken the following steps to reduce the risk of AI-generated content that is harmful, biased, or inappropriate:

• We use Anthropic’s Claude, which is developed with a published Acceptable Use Policy and Constitutional AI safety methodology. Anthropic’s approach to AI safety is publicly documented at anthropic.com.
• VacayNest’s system prompts instruct the AI to be factual, family-appropriate, and to flag uncertainty rather than fabricate information.
• We do not use the AI to generate content about real individuals, political opinions, or topics outside the scope of trip planning.
• We monitor AI outputs for quality and appropriateness as part of ongoing product development.

Despite these measures, AI can make mistakes, reflect biases present in its training data, or produce unexpected outputs. If you encounter AI-generated content in VacayNest that seems inaccurate, inappropriate, or harmful, please report it to legal@vacaynest.co.

6. Data and the AI — What Anthropic Receives

When your data is sent to Anthropic’s API, Anthropic processes it in accordance with their API Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Under standard API usage terms, Anthropic does not use API inputs to train their models without opt-in consent. We do not opt in to model training. You can review Anthropic’s current data practices at anthropic.com/legal/privacy.

7. Your Control Over AI Features

You choose what you share. Household Profile fields that touch on health or medical information are optional. The more context you provide, the more personalized the AI recommendations — but VacayNest works without sensitive details if you prefer to keep them private.

You may request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time by contacting legal@vacaynest.co. Deletion removes your data from VacayNest’s systems. It does not retroactively affect API calls already processed by Anthropic under their data retention policies.

8. Transparency as a Commitment

We will update this policy whenever we meaningfully change how AI is used in VacayNest — including if we add new AI providers, expand the data sent to AI systems, or introduce AI features that make consequential decisions. We will not hide these changes in a routine Terms update. Material AI changes will be communicated directly.

If you have questions about how AI is used in VacayNest, you can always ask us directly: