Terms of Service

Last updated: July 18, 2026

1. Introduction

Welcome to Last Mile Road (lastmileroad.org), a speech-to-text and translation service for underserved languages. By accessing or using our service, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the service.

Last Mile Road is operated by an independent developer. These Terms are a legal agreement between you ("you" or "user") and us.

2. The Service

Last Mile Road provides automated speech-to-text transcription and machine translation using AI models. Key characteristics:

• Pay-as-you-go pricing. You are charged per minute of audio processed. No subscriptions or commitments.
• Free trial. New users receive 20 minutes of free processing.
• Automated output. Transcripts and translations are generated by machine learning models, not human translators. They are a rough draft, not a professional translation.
• Language coverage. We support 300+ languages, primarily low-resource languages. Accuracy varies by language and recording conditions.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use the service. By using the service, you represent that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.

If you are using the service on behalf of an organisation (e.g., NGO, research institution, programme team), you represent that you have the authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

4. Accounts & Registration

• You must provide accurate, current information when creating an account.
• You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.
• You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree to use the service only for lawful purposes. You must not:

• Upload audio that you do not have the legal right to process
• Use the service to transcribe content that violates any law or regulation
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the underlying models
• Use the service to harass, abuse, or harm others
• Circumvent any usage limits, billing mechanisms, or security measures
• Upload audio containing malware, viruses, or malicious code
• Use the service to process personal data in violation of applicable privacy laws

5.1 Recording Consent (Papua New Guinea)

If you upload audio originating from Papua New Guinea, you represent and warrant that you have obtained the consent of all parties to the communication before recording, as required by the Protection of Private Communications Act 1973. Failure to do so may constitute a criminal offence under PNG law.

5.2 Data Subject Rights (Indonesia)

If you upload audio originating from Indonesia, you acknowledge that voice recordings constitute Specific (sensitive) Personal Data under the Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP No. 27/2022). You must ensure you have a valid legal basis for processing (typically explicit consent) and inform data subjects of their rights, including the right to erasure within 72 hours and the right to object to automated decision-making.

6. User Content & Data

6.1 Ownership

You retain full ownership of all audio files you upload and all transcripts and translations generated. We claim no intellectual property rights over your content.

6.2 Processing

Your audio files are processed on our infrastructure to generate transcripts and translations. Audio files are automatically deleted after processing is complete.

6.3 Retention

• Audio files: Deleted automatically after processing.
• Transcripts and translations: Stored in your account until you delete them. You may download or delete your transcripts at any time.
• Account data: Retained for the duration of your account and for a reasonable period thereafter for legal and billing purposes.

6.4 No Training on Your Data

We do not use customer recordings, transcripts, or personal information to train or improve our AI models. This is a firm policy, not an opt-out.

The only exception is if you explicitly opt in through a future contributor programme, where you could choose to designate specific audio-text pairs for model improvement. No data is used without your explicit, informed consent.

7. Accuracy & Limitations

• Transcripts are AI-generated. They may contain errors, especially in challenging audio conditions (background noise, overlapping speakers, low recording quality).
• Accuracy varies. Real-world accuracy depends on recording quality, speaker clarity, language, and dialect. Our published accuracy ratings are based on standardised test sets and may not reflect your specific use case.
• Not a substitute for professionals. Our service is a tool to produce rough drafts and assist human translators. It is not a substitute for professional human transcription or translation, particularly for sensitive, legal, or medical content.
• No warranty of fitness. We do not warrant that the service will meet your specific accuracy requirements.

8. Pricing & Payment

Pricing is published on our website and is subject to change with reasonable notice.

• Charges: You are charged based on the duration of audio processed, rounded to the nearest second.
• Payment processor: Payments are processed securely by Paddle. We do not store or handle your payment card details.
• Taxes: Prices are exclusive of applicable taxes, which will be added at checkout where required.
• Free trial: The 20-minute free trial is available once per user. Abuse of the free trial (e.g., creating multiple accounts) may result in suspension.

9. Refunds

See our separate Refund Policy.

10. Intellectual Property

The service, including the AI models, software, website design, and branding ("Last Mile Road"), is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

Meta Omnilingual ASR is licensed under Apache 2.0. Other models used are licensed under their respective open-source licences.

11. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services in delivering the service:

• Paddle — payment processing (global, US/EU infrastructure)
• ZeptoMail — transactional email delivery (US/EU infrastructure)
• Modal — cloud GPU compute for self-hosted AI models (US/EU infrastructure, depending on region). Your audio is processed on our own GPU instances, not sent to third-party AI APIs
• Hetzner — VPS hosting (Finland, EU infrastructure)

Each third-party service operates under its own terms and privacy policy. See our Privacy Policy for details on data handling.

12. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the service if:

• You violate these Terms
• Your use of the service poses a security or legal risk
• You fail to pay amounts due

You may terminate your account at any time by contacting us. Upon termination, you lose access to your transcripts and account data. We recommend downloading anything you need before terminating.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
• THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE
• THAT TRANSCRIPTS OR TRANSLATIONS WILL BE ACCURATE
• THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR:

• INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
• LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
• DAMAGES ARISING FROM USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE
• CLAIMS BASED ON THE ACCURACY OF TRANSCRIPTS OR TRANSLATIONS

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

16. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or through the service. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

17. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Kenya as the base jurisdiction of our operations. Any disputes arising from the general use of the service shall be resolved in the courts of Nairobi, Kenya. Nothing in these Terms limits any rights you may have under applicable consumer or data protection laws in your jurisdiction.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at:

Email: support@lastmileroad.org
Website: https://lastmileroad.org

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