Privacy Policy – GhibliAI

1. Introduction and Scope

Welcome to GhibliAI. We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy governs the data collection, processing, and usage practices for our website at ghibliai.com and our artificial intelligence image generation services.

This document has been formulated in strict compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other applicable global data protection frameworks. By accessing our platform and utilizing our generation tools, you consent to the data practices described in this policy.

GhibliAI is a free, browser-based application that transforms user-uploaded images and text prompts into artistically styled images inspired by whimsical, animated aesthetics. We are an independent operator and are not affiliated with Studio Ghibli, Inc.

2. Categories of Information We Collect

To provide a seamless generative AI experience, GhibliAI collects the following categories of data:

Personal Identification Data: Your name and email address, collected exclusively when you register for an account or subscribe to our Premium Tier.
Financial Data: All Premium Tier purchases are securely processed by our third-party payment processor. We do not store full credit card numbers or raw financial instruments on our servers — only billing metadata and transaction records necessary for account provisioning and tax compliance.
User Inputs and Generated Content: The text prompts you submit and the resulting images generated by the platform, used solely to facilitate the core service and detect platform abuse.
Uploaded Images: Photos you upload for the image-to-image transformation service. These are transmitted securely to our image processing infrastructure and are permanently deleted within 24 hours of upload, with most deletions occurring immediately upon session completion.
Diagnostic and Usage Data: IP addresses, browser types, device information, and interaction metrics collected via our analytics tools to optimize platform performance, and via our advertising partners to deliver relevant advertisements to Free Tier users.

3. How GhibliAI Works

When you upload an image or submit a text prompt to our service, the following steps occur:

Image Upload: You upload your personal photo or enter a text prompt directly via our website interface.
AI Transformation: Your content is temporarily transmitted to our image generation infrastructure via an encrypted connection, applying artistic transformations inspired by painterly animation styles.
Image Generation: A transformed version of your content is generated and displayed back to you in your browser.
Download and Sharing: You have the option to download the transformed image or share it on social media platforms.

We do not permanently store your uploaded images. All uploaded source images are permanently deleted within 24 hours; the vast majority are purged immediately upon session completion.

4. Purposes of Data Processing and Legal Basis

We process your personal information under the legal bases of contractual necessity and legitimate business interest. Data is utilized to:

Deliver the core AI image generation functionality.
Process subscription payments and allocate Premium Tier credits.
Prevent fraud, monitor platform abuse, and ensure network and platform security.
Serve contextually relevant, non-intrusive advertisements to Free Tier users, subject to your explicit cookie consent provided upon initial site access.
Improve platform performance and user experience through aggregated, anonymized analytics.

5. Data Retention and Deletion

GhibliAI applies a strict 24-hour maximum retention policy for all user-uploaded images and generated outputs. In practice, source images are purged from our systems immediately upon generation completion or session end, whichever comes first. No uploaded image is retained on our infrastructure beyond 24 hours under any circumstances.

Account data (email, billing metadata) is retained until you request deletion or close your account. Analytics data is retained in aggregate, anonymized form for internal improvement purposes only and is not linkable to individual users.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties, data brokers, or marketing syndicates under any circumstances.

6. AI Model Training

The text prompts and images you submit through our platform are not used to train or improve any AI models — neither by GhibliAI nor by any of our upstream service providers. Your creative inputs are processed solely to produce your requested output and are then permanently deleted in accordance with our 24-hour retention policy.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

GhibliAI uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience, analyze site traffic, and deliver relevant advertising:

Essential Cookies: Required for platform functionality and cannot be disabled.
Analytics Cookies: Used to understand aggregate usage patterns and improve the platform. You may opt out via your browser settings or our cookie preference center.
Advertising Cookies: Used to serve relevant ads to Free Tier users. Consent is obtained via our cookie banner on your first visit.

8. Your Comprehensive Privacy Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction (including the EU and California), you possess the following rights:

Right to Access and Portability: Request a copy of all personal data held by GhibliAI.
Right to be Forgotten: Request total deletion of your account and associated data within 30 days.
Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate personal data.
Right to Object: Object to processing for direct marketing or legitimate interest purposes.
Right to Opt-Out (California): Opt out of data sharing for targeted advertising purposes via our consent management platform.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our privacy team at [email protected].

9. Data Security

We implement commercially reasonable technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. All data transmissions are encrypted via TLS/HTTPS. No method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Non-Affiliation and Intellectual Property

No Affiliation: GhibliAI is an independent artistic tool. We have no affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement, or relationship with Studio Ghibli Inc. or its properties.
Copyright & Trademark: We respect all intellectual property rights. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of transformed images respects applicable laws.

11. Children’s Privacy

GhibliAI is not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware of such collection, we will immediately delete it.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by posting the updated policy with a new effective date. For questions, contact [email protected].