Public Network Terms of Service

DATED 2025-11-13 · VERSION 20251201_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20240801_rev01 · ARCHIVE SNAPSHOT

Full text changes — 20240801_rev01 to 20251201_rev01

COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED

+Last updated: July 25, 2024
+Last updated: November 13, 2025
 . [Public Network Terms]()
 . [Contracts are Binding and Legally Enforcable - Please Read!]()
 . [Age Eligibility]()
 . [Access to the Public Network]()
 . [User Obligations]()
 . [Content Permissions, Restrictions, and Creative Commons Licensing]()
 . [Disclaimer of Warranties]()
 . [Indemnification]()
 . [Limitation of Liability]()
 . [General Provisions]()
 . [Copyright policy]()
+. [AI Addendum]()
 By using our products, you agree to our Terms of Service.
 The Stack Overflow Network is a set of related Internet sites and other applications for questions and answers (also referred to herein as the "Network"), owned and operated by Stack Exchange, Inc. ("Stack Overflow", "we" or "us"), a Delaware corporation. Stack Overflow welcomes you to the Network, the largest community of developers in the world, and invites you to participate in the community by sharing knowledge with your peers and colleagues. Like all communities, we ask that you participate in a manner that respects your fellow community members. To that end, we provide you with these terms of service to advise you of the legal obligations you assume when you engage with the Stack Overflow community or otherwise access or use the public Network or any services provided on the public Network (collectively, "Services"). These terms govern the use of the public Network (the "Public Network Terms").
 To the extent you are accessing or using our other products on behalf of a Company or Team, including without limitation by registering for an account on behalf of a Company or Team, your use of those products (such as Stack Overflow for Teams or Stack Overflow Business) is governed by their relevant Terms and Conditions.
 The section and paragraph headings in these Public Network Terms are for convenience only and shall not affect their interpretation.
 ### 11\. Copyright policy
 If You believe that content residing or accessible on the Network infringes a copyright, please contact us in accordance with the reporting requirements outlined in our [Digital Millennium Copyright Act Takedown Notice](https://policies.stackoverflow.co/company/dmca-takedown). Note that we reserve the right to pursue legal action for submitting false or frivolous notices of copyright infringement. As such, please consider all circumstances prior to submitting your request, including fair use and other licensing exceptions and limitations. We also reserve the right, at our discretion, to immediately suspend or terminate the account of any user who is the subject of repeated valid takedown notices.
+### 12\. AI Addendum
+Some features of our Public Network, including but not limited to Stack Overflow AI Assist and Question Assistant, provide access to generative and other artificial intelligence functionalities ("AI Features"). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms, this Section 12 ("AI Addendum") governs all use and interaction with AI Features on the Network. If there is a conflict between this AI Addendum and any other section of these Terms regarding use of an AI Feature, this AI Addendum controls. All terms specific to this Section are defined in this Section.
+- AI Features of the Public Network will be clearly labeled as such.
+- We take no responsibility for, and we do not expressly or implicitly endorse, support, or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, acceptability, or reliability of AI Features, including, but not limited to any AI Outputs.
+- Although Stack Overflow has no obligation to review, edit, filter, or monitor your AI Inputs, we may take action consistent with these Terms, at any time, if in our sole discretion, your AI Inputs violate the law, these Terms, our [Code of Conduct](https://stackoverflow.com/conduct), or our [Acceptable Use Policy](https://stackoverflow.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy).
+- You agree to comply with all applicable legal requirements regarding AI Outputs, which may require attribution to the source.
+#### a. AI Feature Inputs & Outputs
+By using an AI Feature, you agree that all data you provide, upload, and/or submit to the AI Feature ("AI Inputs") will be consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy, and that you have the rights, power, and authority necessary to provide such AI Inputs. If you can't agree to this requirement, or are unsure, do not use the AI Features.
+You retain full ownership of your AI Inputs, as applicable, but you grant to Stack Overflow a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, right to use, copy, modify, distribute, and store the AI Inputs. Subject to the rules and restrictions of our [Privacy Policy](https://stackoverflow.com/legal/privacy-policy), this includes the right for Stack Overflow to use the AI Inputs for analytics, product development, and product improvement.
+Stack Overflow makes no claim of ownership regarding content returned or generated by AI Features ("AI Outputs"), however, you acknowledge that Stack Overflow may generate the same or similar AI Outputs for others and that we reserve all rights to do so. To the extent required by law, Stack Overflow retains and will exercise the same non-exclusive rights to AI Outputs as it does to AI Inputs.
+#### b. Third Party Hosted Models
+AI Features utilize third-party provided services. These third-party services operate independently, and we do not control their policies or practices. We advise you to consult the terms of service and privacy policies of all third-party AI services integrated into our platform to fully understand how they may impact your data (see list below). Stack Overflow only uses third-party GAI services that are evaluated to be safe, secure, trusted services, with the following minimum requirements:
+- They do not use the input content or prompts for training their machine learning models.
+- They do not use the output for training their machine learning models.
+- They do not claim ownership of any inputs and outputs.
+- [Our current list of trusted third-party services used for AI Features is available here.](https://policies.stackoverflow.co/stack-overflow/public-network-subprocessors/)
+The trusted services used for providing AI Feature functionalities may change from time to time at the sole discretion of Stack Overflow, provided that any new services added must satisfy the same minimum requirements mentioned above. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim any liability for any damages, losses, or claims arising out of or in connection with the AI Features, including but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages.