Safety and privacy
How the AI teacher responds if a child may be unsafe, what we keep and who sees it, and what you can do about it. It says what's true today.
If a child may be in danger right now, call 911.
Children and teens can reach Kids Help Phone any time: call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868. If you think a child in BC is being harmed, you can call BC's child protection line, 1-800-663-9122, at any hour.
My Family School is not an emergency service. No one watches classes as they happen, so the teacher always points a child to a grown-up nearby, and to 911 when they may be in danger now.
If a child may be unsafe
If your child says something in class that suggests they may be hurt, in danger or bullied, whatever words they use, the AI teacher flags it and answers kindly. When they may be in danger right now, it says the same words every time:
“Thank you for telling me. That's really important. Please tell a grown-up you trust who's near you. If you're in danger right now, call nine-one-one.”
For something that goes on, such as bullying, it says the same words without the last sentence. When the teacher can't tell whether your child means their own life or the lesson (a story, or a "what if" the lesson asks about), it reminds them in a line of its own that they can always tell a grown-up they trust, and the lesson goes on.
The teacher doesn't ask what happened, promise to keep a secret, or say that anyone will be told or will come, and it doesn't mention the flag to your child. Unless the teacher wasn't sure, the screen then shows how to reach Kids Help Phone.
Nobody listens to classes live. Instead, we keep what was said just before and after that moment, up to 20 lines from your child and the teacher, so a person on our team can read it and decide what to do. We may contact you. If we believe a child may need protection, BC law requires us to report it to child protection services, and we will, without telling you first if that could put the child at risk. If an urgent alert isn't looked at in time, new classes may pause for everyone until our team turns them back on.
What the teacher will and won't do
- It's an AI, not a person, and says so plainly if your child asks. It may not say so otherwise, so please tell your child before their first class.
- It never asks for personal information such as an address, school, phone number or photos.
- It gives hints instead of answers. It can also make mistakes or misunderstand your child.
- Class turns on the microphone; the camera stays off. Before class, a quick check in the browser may listen for your child's hello, to make sure the microphone works; what it hears isn't sent anywhere or kept. Your child can turn the microphone off or leave a class at any time.
- Every class has a time limit. When it's reached before the lesson is done, the teacher wraps up kindly and your child's place is saved for next time.
What we keep, and who sees it
- About you: your email address and password, your parent PIN, kept only in a scrambled (hashed) form, the language you choose for your family pages, and your consent answers: what you agreed to or stopped, which version, and when.
- About your child: the first name or nickname, grade, favourite theme and teacher you pick, and the grade of lessons for a subject if you choose one; their progress and answers; and a report after each lesson they finish, which includes a few of their own words, like an idea they explained.
- Class records: when each class started and ended, how long your child and the teacher talked, how the class ended, and how your child said class was, if they tapped a face at the end.
- Safety records: when it happened, in which lesson, how urgent it seems, and the lines said around it.
- What you send us: messages from the contact form, problems you tell us about from a class's report, and your entry if you join the waitlist.
We don't record the sound of classes or keep full transcripts. We don't turn on the camera, ask where you live, or use advertising or analytics tools, and the only cookies we set keep you signed in and remember the language you choose. We don't show ads, sell or rent personal information, or use it to train AI.
You see your children's progress and reports on your family pages, which open only with your 4-digit parent PIN, so a child using your account can't open them. Each family can reach only its own records. Our staff open records on our staff pages, only after a second sign-in step with an authenticator app. Every time they open a safety record, and every change they make there, goes into a log that can't be changed. So do the changes you make to your children and your account, without your children's names.
Where it lives, and for how long
Our database and its backups are in Canada. Parts of every class, and some of the website's work, are handled outside Canada by the providers below, which can include the United States.
| Provider | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Our database and sign-in | Canada (Central region); some technical logs and support outside Canada |
| LiveKit | Connects the live class and runs our teacher program | Outside Canada, which can include the United States |
| xAI | The AI voice model that listens and speaks | No region promised; can be outside Canada, including the United States |
| Vercel | Hosts this website | Its global network, which includes the United States |
| Resend | Sends safety alert emails to our team, never with your child's name or words | United States |
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account | Until you delete it: 7 days after you ask, so you can change your mind |
| Your child's profile, progress and reports | Until you remove your child or we delete your account |
| The saved place in a lesson your child left unfinished, with some of their words | 30 days after anyone last worked on that lesson; then it starts again from the beginning |
| Your consent answers | Kept after you remove a child or delete your account, as a record of what was agreed |
| Class records | Kept, without a link to your child once you remove them, or to your email once your account is deleted |
| Safety records | Kept after you remove a child or delete your account |
| Your messages to us and your waitlist entry | Until you ask us to delete them |
| Our database backups | Deleted information stays in them for up to about a week |
| What xAI receives in class | 30 days, to check for misuse |
| Safety alert emails at Resend | 30 days |
Consent answers, class records, safety records, messages and waitlist entries don't have an automatic end date yet.
The voice services
- LiveKit connects the live classroom and runs our teacher program. It passes the sound along as your child speaks and doesn't keep it.
- xAI makes the voice model that listens, turns speech into text and answers in the teacher's voice. Its published policy says it keeps what it receives, which can include your child's voice and words, for 30 days to check for misuse, then deletes it unless the law or an investigation requires longer, and that it doesn't train on this data without the customer's permission.
We use both on their standard terms, and haven't arranged for xAI to keep nothing ("zero data retention"). How voice classes work has more.
Stopping, copies and deleting
- Stop voice classes for a child at any time, in their settings or on the Privacy and consents page. It applies from the next class.
- Remove a child in their settings. Their profile, progress and reports are deleted at once, apart from the backups and records above.
- Get a copy of your family's information at any time: download it from your account page.
- Delete your account from your account page. Classes stop at once, and your account and your children's profiles, progress and reports are deleted 7 days later; until then you can change your mind. The Privacy Policy says what stays.
Questions
Write to us: you don't need to sign in. The Privacy Policy, the Terms of Service and How voice classes work have the details.