Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Hark (“we”, “us” and “our”) collect, use, disclose, and process your personal data when you use our website (Hark.com), apps and other products and services that we may provide (together, the "Services").

For information on how we train the large language models that power our Services (the “Models”) and how personal data obtained from third-party sources may be used when developing or delivering our Services, please refer to our Non-User Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Policy also describes the privacy rights applicable where you are located – please see Section 4 for further information.

Details of your relevant controller can be found at Section 9 of this Privacy Policy.

1. What information we collect

When you sign up for a Hark account, use our Services or communicate with us, we collect the following categories of personal data (“Personal Data”):

• Personal Data you provide to us directly:
  • Account Information: Hark collects information associated with your account, including your name, contact information (e.g., email address and phone number), account credentials, payment card information, and transaction history (collectively, “Account Information”). We may also collect and create identifiers that are associated with your account but do not directly reveal who you are.
  • Inputs and Outputs: You can use our Services in a variety of formats, including but not limited to chat, voice, file uploads, and agentic sessions (“Prompts” or "Inputs"), which generate responses and actions (“Outputs”) based on your Inputs (collectively, “Inputs and Outputs”). You can also integrate third-party applications with our Services (“Third-Party Apps”). We collect any Personal Data or external content referred to by you in your Inputs, and this may be generated in our Outputs.
    • We ask that you not provide us with any sensitive personal information (e.g., social security numbers, financial account numbers, government ID numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, health, biological, biometric or genetic information, criminal background information, or similar data) on or through the Services or otherwise.
  • Communications: When you communicate with us, we collect certain information including your name, any contact information shared with us, and any messages you send (“Communications”).
  • Social Media: We may have pages on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Medium, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. When you interact with our social media pages, we may collect Personal Data that you elect to provide to us, such as your contact details, when permitted by law (“Social Media”).
  • Derived Data: If you use certain Hark features, such as to convert images to videos, videos to new or different videos, or people to avatars, or to upload audio or voice clips, we may derive certain information from images of individual people or from audio or voice clips in order to provide those features (“Derived Data”). While we do not use such data for purposes of identifying any unique individual, it is possible that some may consider this data biometric data within the meaning of EU law and certain U.S. state laws. We will only use and share this Derived Data for limited purposes, as described in this Privacy Policy.
  • Other Data You Provide: We collect other information that you may provide to us, such as when you participate in our events or surveys or provide us with information to establish your identity (“Other Information”).
• Personal Data we receive automatically from your use of the Services: By using the Services, we also automatically receive certain technical information described below (collectively, “Technical Information”). This includes:
  • Device and Connection Information: Depending on your device or browser settings and other permissions, we receive information about how you interact with our Services. This may include details such as your device type, operating system information, browser information and web page reference, mobile network, connection information, mobile operator or internet service provider (ISP), time zone setting, IP address (including information about the location of the device derived from your IP address), identifiers (including device or advertising identifiers, probabilistic identifiers, and other unique personal or online identifiers), computer or mobile device specifications, language settings, and device location.
  • Usage Information: We use information on how you use the Services, such as when you access the Services, records of your browsing history, searches performed, information on links viewed, and other data about how you interact with the Services.
  • Log and Troubleshooting Information: When you use the Services, we collect measurements on our performance. An example of this measurement data is log files, e.g., when your device experiences an issue, we may collect information about the issue, the time the issuer occurred, the feature in use, the state of the application at the time of the issue, and any communications or content provided at that time.
  • Communication Interaction Data: This includes interactions with our email, text or other communications (e.g., whether you open and/or forward emails) – we may do this through use of pixel tags (which are also known as clear GIFs), which may be embedded invisibly in our emails.
  • Sandbox Environment Data: When Hark executes tasks on your behalf, it operates within isolated sandbox environments (virtual machines). We may collect: (i) files you upload or that Hark creates during task execution; (ii) shell commands executed and their outputs; (iii) code you provide or that Hark generates; and (iv) task execution logs for debugging and security purposes.
  • Hark Browser Operator Data: When you enable the Hark Browser Operator (“Browser Operator”) extension and the "My Browser" Connector, you grant Hark access to interact with web pages in your local browser environment. This includes: (i) page content that Hark reads, extracts, and processes from web pages you authorize, including content from premium or authenticated services you are logged into; (ii) browser actions such as clicking, scrolling, form filling, and navigation performed on your behalf; and (iii) session context leveraging your existing browser sessions and login states. Data collected through Browser Operator is transmitted to Hark servers for task processing. We do not store your login credentials. You can revoke Browser Operator access at any time by disabling the "My Browser" Connector or uninstalling the browser extension.
  • Cookies & Similar Technologies: Through the use of cookies, scripts, or similar technologies (“Cookies”), we and our service providers manage the Services and collect information about you and your use of the Services. Using these technologies helps us to recognize you, and customize or personalize your experience. Cookies also help us recommend and market additional products or services to you, and analyze the use of our Services to make them safer and more useful to you. If you want to read more information on how we use these technologies, view your opt-out controls and options, please visit our Cookie Policy.
• We may receive information about you from other sources (together, “Data from Third-Party Sources”), such as:
  • Data from Public Sources. These public sources include public records, social media platforms, and other publicly available sources.
  • Data from Third-Party AI Providers. Parts of the Services are integrated with third-party AI platforms (“Third-Party AI Providers”) that help generate outputs (i.e., responses) to your inputs and prompts. These Third-Party AI Providers may infer information about you and share information with us as part of their processing of your inputs and prompts to the Service.
  • Data from Service Providers. We receive information about your usage of our Services or your interaction with our social media pages. For example, companies that host our social media pages may provide us with aggregate information and analytics about our social media activity.
  • Data from Linked Services. We receive certain information when you use third-party services (such as Google or Apple) to log into, or otherwise link to, your Services account, including when you utilize or direct the Services to utilize your third-party accounts. This data may include your username and other information associated with your account on that third-party service that is made available to us based on your account settings on that service.
  • Data from Connectors. When you consent or direct us to interact with a third-party, we receive the information needed to carry out the actions you request, consistent with the permissions you grant. This includes data made available to us through Connectors you enable. A “Connector” is a pre-built integration module that allows our AI tool or system to connect to an external data source, application, or service designated by you. Our Connector processes data solely from user-authorized sources and only as instructed by you, and it does not store any of that data. We only access the categories of data you authorize and we follow the applicable provider policies. For example, when you connect Google services, we comply with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

2. How we use your information

We use your Personal Data for the following purposes:

• To create and manage your Hark account;
• To facilitate payments for the Services provided by Hark;
• To send you information about our Services and events and otherwise communicate with you;
• To provide, maintain, personalise and improve our Services in accordance with our Terms of Service;
• To improve and develop our Services and conduct research;
• To promote our Services;
• Receiving information from your device settings;
• To prevent and investigate fraud, abuse, and violations of our Usage Policy, Terms of Service and other policies, illegal activity, access to or use of Personal Data without authorisation or Hark’s IT infrastructure without authorisation and to safeguard and defend Hark’s rights and the rights of others;
• To keep our Services safe and secure;
• To resolve disputes and investigate complaints made by you;
• To enforce our Terms of Service and other agreements and policies, including our Usage Policy;
• To manage legal claims;
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; and
• To preserve and share information with others, including law enforcement, civil litigants and others who may make lawful requests.

Unless you opt-out through your account settings, we may use your Inputs and Outputs to train the Models and improve our Services. We may process Personal Data in an aggregated or de-identified form to analyze the effectiveness of our Services, conduct research, study user behavior, and train and improve the Models as permitted under applicable laws. For instance:

• If our systems flag Inputs or Outputs for potentially violating our Usage Policy, we disassociate the content from your user ID to train our trust and safety internal classification and generative models. However, we may re-identify the Inputs or Outputs to enforce our Usage Policy with the responsible user if necessary.
• To improve user experience, we may analyze and aggregate general user behavior and usage data. This information does not identify individual users.

3. How we share your information

We share your Personal Data with the following categories of third parties in the following circumstances:

• Affiliates & corporate partners. Hark discloses Personal Data between and among its affiliates and related entities.
• Service providers & business partners. Where we engage service providers and business partners, we may share your Personal Data with them for a range of business reasons, including website and data hosting, compliance with industry standards, research, auditing, data processing, and providing our Services to you.
• As part of a significant corporate event. In the event that Hark enters into a merger, a restructuring, bankruptcy, an asset sale or another situation involving the transfer of business assets, Hark may disclose your Personal Data in connection with that corporate transaction.
• Third-Party Websites and Services. Our Services may integrate with, or link to, websites, applications, and services managed by third parties. By interacting with these third parties, you are providing information directly to the third party (not Hark) and are subject to the third-party’s privacy policy. If you access third-party services, such as social media sites or other sites linked through the Services (e.g., if you follow a link to our X account), these third-party services will be able to collect Personal Data about you, including information about your activity on the Services. In the event that we link to a third-party site or service via our Services, you should read such third-party’s data usage policies or other documentation. Linking you to another site or service does not mean that we endorse that third-party.
• Pursuant to regulatory or legal requirements, safety, rights of others, and to enforce our rights or our terms: We may disclose Personal Data to governmental authorities, professional advisors, regulators, tax authorities and law enforcement to: (i) respond to their requests for such information pursuant to applicable law or regulations, court orders, legal process or government requests; (ii) to assist in investigations or otherwise detect, prevent or address illegal activity or security and technical issues,; (iii) protect the rights, property, and safety of Hark, its affiliates and our commercial customers and users, including to prevent death or imminent bodily harm.
• With an individual's consent. If an individual gives us permission or we are directed to disclose Personal Data, including as a part of our Services, Hark may also disclose this information.

U.S. Supplemental Disclosures (Preceding 12 Months)

For U.S. residents where required by applicable law, we provide the following supplemental disclosures for the preceding 12 months:

• The categories of Personal Data we collected;
• The categories of sources from which Personal Data was collected;
• The business or commercial purposes for collection, use, disclosure, sale, or sharing;
• The categories of third-parties to whom Personal Data was disclosed, sold, or shared;
• The categories of Personal Data (if any) sold or shared for targeted advertising/cross-context behavioral advertising; and
• Whether we use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes beyond those permitted by applicable law.

No Sale / No Sharing Statement. (United States)

We have not sold or shared Personal Data (as those terms are defined under applicable law) in the preceding 12 months.

Important: “Sale,” “share,” and “targeted advertising” may be defined broadly under state law and may include certain cookie-based advertising and analytics practices. Our cookie-based practices are described in our Cookie Policy, and this section should be read together with that policy.

California Notice at Collection.

At or before the point of collection, California consumers are entitled to notice of:

1. The categories of personal information (including sensitive personal information, if applicable) we collect;
2. The purposes for which we collect and use those categories;
3. Whether each category is sold or shared;
4. The retention period for each category, or the criteria used to determine the retention period; and
5. How to access our full Privacy Policy and applicable opt-out/limit controls.

The categories of personal information we collect and the purposes for which we use them are described in Section 1 and Section 2 of this Privacy Policy. Our retention practices are described in Section 6 and the retention schedule below.

4. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you reside and the laws applicable in your country, you may have certain rights regarding your Personal Data, as detailed below. We may decline a request if there is a lawful reason for doing so. However, we strive to protect Personal Data, and to comply with all applicable privacy laws.

To exercise your rights, you may submit a request through your <Privacy Settings>. If you cannot access your account, you can fill in this <form>. After we receive your request, we may ask for additional information to verify your identity.

Where permitted by law, you may designate an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. We may take commercially reasonable steps to verify your identity and the agent’s authority.

Certain countries, like the EEA, Switzerland and the UK (the “European Region”) and certain US states have statutory data protection rights. Depending on where you live, the rights below may apply to you:

Depending on where you reside and the laws applicable in your country, you may have certain rights regarding your Personal Data, as detailed below. We may decline a request if there is a lawful reason for doing so. However, we strive to protect Personal Data, and to comply with all applicable privacy laws.

To exercise your rights, you may submit a request through your Privacy Settings. If you cannot access your account, you can contact us at privacy@hark.com. After we receive your request, we may ask for additional information to verify your identity.

Where permitted by law, you may designate an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. We may take commercially reasonable steps to verify your identity and the agent’s authority.

Certain countries, like the EEA, Switzerland and the UK (the “European Region”) and certain US states have statutory data protection rights. Depending on where you live, the rights below may apply to you:

• Access: You can access certain information associated with your account by visiting your Privacy Settings. Subject to certain exceptions and conditions, you can request a copy of your information in an easily accessible format, as well as an explanation of how that information is used including the categories of Personal Data collected, the purposes of processing, the categories of third-parties with whom your data has been shared, and the specific pieces of Personal Data we hold about you.
• Portability: In certain cases and subject to applicable law, you have the right to receive certain of your information which you provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit such information to another controller.
• Deletion: In certain circumstances, you have the right to request the deletion of your information, except information we are required to retain by law, regulation, or to protect the safety, security, rights, and integrity of Hark. Where required by applicable law, we will also direct our service providers and contractors to delete your Personal Data from their records.
• Correction: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate Personal Data about you, subject to certain exceptions. However,we cannot guarantee the factual accuracy of Outputs. If they contain factually inaccurate Personal Data relating to you, you can submit a correction request. Once received, we will make a reasonable effort to correct this information. Because of the technical complexity of our large language models, it might not always be possible for us to correct this information.
• Objection: You have the right to object to the processing of your Personal Data where we process your Personal Data based on our legitimate interests or the public interest, including profiling conducted on grounds of public or legitimate interest. If you object, Hark will stop processing the Personal Data unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or unless the processing relates to the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims. Where Hark uses your Personal Data for direct marketing, you may object to this, and opt-out of direct marketing messages in the future by using the unsubscribe link in such direct marketing communications.
• Restriction: You have the right to restrict or limit our processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances.
• Withdrawal of consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent to Hark’s processing of your Personal Data where such processing is based on consent. Please note that the withdrawal of consent will not impact on the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
• Automated decision-making: You have the right not to be subject to a decision when it is based solely on automated processing (i.e. an operation that is performed without any human intervention), if it produces a legal effect or significantly impacts you, except under certain conditions, for example, where the decision is necessary for our contractual relationship with you, you have provided your consent, or when Hark is authorised under relevant law to conduct such processing. Where required by applicable law, you may request meaningful information about the logic involved in such decisions.
• Sale & targeted Hark marketing of its products and services: Hark does not “sell” your Personal Data defined by applicable laws and regulations. It is possible to opt-out of sharing your Personal Data for targeted advertising to promote our products and services, and we will honor global privacy controls. For more information, see our Cookies Policy.
• Sensitive Data: Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent or otherwise comply with applicable legal requirements before processing categories of data considered “sensitive” under applicable law
• Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of the rights described in this section. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, or provide a different level or quality of service solely because you have exercised your privacy rights.
• Complaints: If you are resident in certain US states or the European Region, you have the right to lodge a complaint about our data protection practices with the supervisory authority of your country or state.
• Appeal: In certain US states and subject to applicable laws, you have the right to appeal our decision if we deny your privacy request

Hark gives you access to a variety of tools to help you manage your data. You can access these in your Privacy Settings.

5. Data transfers

If you live outside the US, then your Personal Data may be transferred to our servers in the US, or to other countries outside of the country where you live and where standards of privacy protections may be lower compared to where you live.

Where Personal Data is transferred outside the European Region, we ensure it benefits from an adequate level of data protection by relying on:

• Adequacy decisions: These are decisions from the European Commission under Article 45 GDPR (or equivalent decisions under other laws) where they recognize that a country outside of the EEA offers an adequate level of data protection; or
• Standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”): The European Commission has approved contractual clauses under Article 46 GDPR that allows companies to transfer Personal Data from the EEA to third countries. These clauses (and their approved equivalent for the UK and Switzerland) are called SCCs. Where Hark relies on SCCs, you have a right to request a copy of these by contacting us at privacy@hark.com (mailto:privacy@hark.com).

Derogations: Where applicable, we rely on derogations provided for under applicable data protection law to transfer information to a third country.

Purpose of processing:

Hark retains your Personal Data for as long as reasonably necessary to provide our Services to you and as required to comply with our legal obligations. Here is what we consider when deciding how long to keep your information:

• Information used to provide our Services
  • Retention Period: Retained for the lifetime of your account.
• Information used for regulatory compliance and other legal obligations
  • Retention Period: We retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws or similar obligations.
• Information used for other legitimate purposes
  • Retention Period: We may retain your information for other legitimate purposes, such as to prevent harm, investigate possible violations of our Terms of Service and policies, promote safety, security and integrity, or protect Hark, including our rights, property or Services.

Once the Personal Data we collect is no longer required by us, we and our service providers will conduct the necessary procedures to destroy, delete, erase, or convert the Personal Data into an anonymous form as permitted or required under applicable laws.

7. Children

We do not direct our Services towards children under 18 and do not knowingly collect, use, disclose, sell, or share any Personal Data or information relating to, or from children under the age of 18. If you are aware that a child under the age of 18 has provided any Personal Data through our Services, please contact us at privacy@hark.com. We will investigate and, where appropriate, delete the relevant Personal Data.

8. Changes to our Privacy Policy

Hark may periodically update this Privacy Policy. We will endeavour to notify you of any material changes, as appropriate, and update the Effective Date at the top of this document. We encourage you to check back regularly and review any updates.

9. Contact Information

• If you live in the European Region, the controller responsible for your Personal Data is Hark Labs, Inc. Hark Labs, Inc shall also be responsible for your data if you live outside the European Region.
• For any queries related to this Privacy Policy, or if have any queries, complaints or requests regarding your Personal Data, please contact us via your Privacy Settings, If you cannot access your account, you can contact us as described below:
  • By mail: Hark Labs, Inc. 3940 N First St, San Jose, CA 95134.
  • By email: privacy@hark.com

10. Legal bases for processing

In certain jurisdictions and subject to applicable data protection laws, companies must have a legal basis to process Personal Data. We rely on different legal bases to process your information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on different legal bases when processing your information for different purposes. For each processing purpose below, we describe why we process your information, what information we process and our legal basis for processing.

U.S. Biometric Data Supplemental Notice (Illinois, Texas, and other applicable states).

To the extent our features collect, capture, generate, or process biometric identifiers or biometric information (as defined by applicable law) for example, face geometry or voiceprint-related data used to provide avatar, image/video transformation, or voice-enabled features we provide the following supplemental disclosures:

1. Notice and consent. We will provide any notices and obtain any consents required by applicable law before collecting or processing biometric identifiers/biometric information for covered purposes. Where required, this may include written or equivalent electronic consent.
2. Purpose and duration. We will disclose the purpose(s) for collecting/processing biometric data and the length of time for which it will be retained or the criteria used to determine retention.
3. No sale / no profit. We do not sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from biometric identifiers or biometric information.
4. Disclosure restrictions. We do not disclose biometric identifiers or biometric information except (i) with your consent/direction, (ii) to provide the requested feature or service, (iii) as required by law, or (iv) as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
5. Security. We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards to protect biometric data and apply protections that are at least as protective as those used for other sensitive/confidential information.
6. Retention and destruction. We maintain a publicly available retention schedule and destruction guidelines for biometric identifiers and biometric information, and we delete or permanently destroy such data when the initial purpose for collection has been satisfied, or earlier/later as required by applicable law.

Biometric Retention Schedule:

Biometric-derived feature data used to provide a requested feature: retained for no more than two years after feature completion or account deletion, unless earlier deletion is requested or longer retention is required by law.

• Biometric-derived data retained for security/fraud prevention: retained for no more than one year only where necessary and permitted by law.
• Backups: deleted on a rolling basis within no more than 90 days.