MeetYourGuide.ai — Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and Consent

By utilising MeetYourGuide.ai, registering an account, or submitting/bidding on a job, you consent to the processing of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). This policy governs data collected during your use of the platform up to the point of a Verified Introduction.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to operate the introductory marketplace:

• Account Information: First name, full legal name, email address, phone number, and account type (Client or AI Guide).
• Professional Information (Guides): Skill levels, biographies, portfolio links, and bid proposals.
• Job Data (Clients): Job descriptions, project requirements, and budget parameters.
• Financial Information: We do not store credit card details. All token purchases are processed securely via our third-party payment gateway (Payfast). We only retain transaction records and token ledger balances.
• Platform Activity: Bidding history, job statuses, time logs, and user-generated ratings and reviews.

3. Privacy by Default (The Bidding Phase)

To protect user privacy during the open bidding phase, AI Guides are presented to Clients using pseudonymised identities. While a bid is pending, the Client will only see the Guide's first name, an initial, an obfuscated avatar, and their professional metrics (such as skill badges and star ratings). During the 4-day introductory window, no direct messaging or communication is facilitated through the platform.

4. The Contact Detail Handoff (Verified Introduction)

The fundamental mechanism of MeetYourGuide.ai is the Verified Introduction. Full contact details (including full legal names, email addresses, and optional phone numbers) are kept strictly confidential until the exact moment a Client clicks “Select for Discovery Session.” Upon selection, a Verified Introduction email is automatically generated and sent to both the Client and the winning AI Guide, revealing the necessary contact information to both parties. The contact details of the AI Guides who were not selected remain permanently hidden.

5. Off-Platform Data Handling

MeetYourGuide.ai is solely an introductory service. Following the Verified Introduction, all subsequent communication, data sharing, file transfers, and video conferences (e.g., the Discovery Session) occur entirely off-platform. MeetYourGuide.ai has no visibility into, control over, or liability for how Clients and AI Guides store, share, or protect personal data exchanged during their private engagements. Users are responsible for establishing their own data privacy agreements for any off-platform project execution.

6. Third-Party Data Processors

We share necessary data snippets with trusted third-party providers solely to operate platform features:

• Anthropic (Claude API): If a Client utilises the “Polish my description” feature, the job description text is transmitted securely to Anthropic for the sole purpose of improving the text. No personal identifiers are attached to this transmission.
• Yoco: Token purchases require passing basic user identification to Yoco to process the transaction securely.

7. Public Profiles and Feedback

AI Guides maintain public profiles that display their first name, the initial of their last name, aggregated ratings, recent written reviews, and professional metrics. Full legal names are not displayed publicly to unauthenticated visitors. Private feedback submitted by Clients regarding Discovery Sessions is restricted to platform administrators only and is used solely for moderation and algorithmic sorting.

8. Data Retention and Your Rights

We retain your personal information only for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services and resolve disputes. Under POPIA, you have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data. You may delete your account at any time via your dashboard settings, which will anonymize your past job postings and remove your profile from public view.