1. Introduction
Welcome to Powerhouse. These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Powerhouse ("we", "us", "our") about your use of the Powerhouse website, applications, AI tutor (Pulse) and related services (the "Service").
By creating an account, signing in, or using the Service in any way you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree to either document, please don't use the Service.
These Terms are written in everyday English wherever possible, but they still form a legal contract. Section headings are for convenience only and don't alter the meaning of what follows.
2. Accounts & eligibility
You need an account to use most of Powerhouse. When you sign up you must provide accurate information and keep your password confidential. You are responsible for everything that happens under your account.
Accounts come in three flavours: student, teacher and parent. You may only hold one role per email address; if you need a different role, sign out and create a separate account.
You must be at least 13 years old to create your own Powerhouse account. Students under 13 may use Powerhouse only through a parent or school account that consents to these Terms on their behalf, see section 7 for detail.
3. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Use Powerhouse to cheat on real-time exams or to bypass invigilator rules.
- Share, sell, copy or systematically scrape questions, mark schemes, model answers, figures, or Pulse responses for redistribution outside Powerhouse.
- Reverse-engineer the Service, probe its security, or circumvent rate-limits, paywalls or anti-abuse mechanisms.
- Upload content that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, infringing, hateful, sexual, or otherwise harmful.
- Impersonate another person, falsify your identity, or use the Service to harass other users.
- Submit prompts to Pulse designed to extract restricted content (the full answer pre-hint, off-syllabus material, or content disallowed by these Terms).
- Use automated systems to create accounts, generate practice traffic, or post in classrooms at scale.
We reserve the right to investigate suspected violations and to suspend or terminate accounts that breach these rules, see section 12.
4. Content & intellectual property
Our content. The Service, its interface, source code, figures, original questions, classifications, the Pulse mascot, the Powerhouse name, and all other materials we provide are owned by Powerhouse or our licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark and other laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use them for your personal, non-commercial study or for the educational operation of your classroom.
Your content. When you submit answers, working, assignments, messages, flags, Pulse conversations, profile information or other content ("User Content"), you keep your rights to it but grant us a worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, process, transmit and display that User Content as needed to provide the Service to you and your authorised viewers (teachers / classmates / linked parents).
Third-party content. Some past-paper content is the copyright of external examination boards (e.g. the IB, Cambridge Assessment International Education, OCR, AQA, Edexcel, College Board). We use that content under fair-use / educational-purpose provisions or under direct licence and credit each item to its source. Don't redistribute it outside Powerhouse.
If you believe any content on Powerhouse infringes your copyright, please email legal@powerhouse.com with a takedown request.
5. Pulse AI tutor disclaimers
Pulse is Powerhouse's AI-powered tutor. It generates responses by calling large language models supplied by third-party providers (currently Google's Gemini family; we may add or switch providers over time). Although Pulse is grounded in your syllabus and the official mark scheme, AI models can make mistakes, including stating things that are factually wrong, misattributing techniques, or producing hints that don't fit the question.
For that reason:
- Pulse's output is informational and educational only, it is not advice from a qualified teacher or a substitute for studying official materials.
- Always verify any important answer with your teacher or with the official mark scheme before relying on it (for example, on a graded assignment).
- Pulse will refuse to answer questions outside your syllabus context. Don't try to extract general / medical / legal / personal advice from it.
- We may store your Pulse conversations against your account so they survive page reloads. See our Privacy Policy for retention details.
- We do not use your Pulse messages to train models without your explicit opt-in consent.
6. Past papers, mark schemes & accuracy
Powerhouse hosts a large library of past exam questions, model answers, mark schemes, figures and topic classifications. We work hard to keep this content accurate and aligned with the official syllabus for each exam board, but mistakes can creep in (typos, mis-tagged topics, drifted syllabi, etc.).
If you spot an error, wrong answer letter, misrendered LaTeX, missing figure, mis-classified topic, hit the Flag button on the question. We review every flag and patch the source. We don't guarantee that any individual question, mark scheme or model answer is error-free.
Examination boards may update or withdraw past papers. We aim to track those changes promptly but assume no liability for delays.
7. Students under 13
If you are under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), you may use Powerhouse only:
- Through a parent account that has linked to your student account and consents to these Terms on your behalf, OR
- Through a school plan that has obtained the required consents from a parent or guardian.
Parents may withdraw consent at any time by deleting the linked accounts or by emailing privacy@powerhouse.com.
8. Parent linking & visibility
A student account and a parent account become linked only when the student accepts a link request initiated from the parent's Family page using the student's 8-character friend code. Once linked, the parent can see:
- Recent activity (which questions were attempted, when)
- Scores by subject and accuracy trends
- Upcoming assignments and parent-set tasks
- Weekly study-time summaries
Parents cannot see the student's direct messages, their Pulse AI tutor conversations, or change the student's account settings. Either party may remove the link at any time from the Family page; no data is deleted, only the connection is severed.
9. Teachers, schools & classrooms
Teacher accounts may create classrooms, post assignments, view per-student results and message their class. By creating a classroom you confirm that you are an authorised educator at the institution you represent.
Schools may purchase a bulk plan; the school administrator is responsible for distributing access to teachers and obtaining parent / guardian consent for students under 13. Schools must comply with their local data-protection laws (UK GDPR, EU GDPR, COPPA, etc.).
Powerhouse does not act as a school official under FERPA unless we have a specific data-processing agreement with that school.
10. Payments & billing
Powerhouse is currently free to use. We may introduce paid plans or paid features in the future; any feature you have access to today will continue to be available at no cost for that account.
If you do subscribe to a future paid plan, you authorise us (and our payment processor) to charge your payment method on the cadence shown at checkout. Subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled. You can cancel anytime from Settings; refunds are at our discretion and follow local consumer protection law.
11. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights to access, correct, export or delete it. In short: we use your data to provide the Service to you, never sell it, and minimise what we collect.
We may use anonymised, aggregated usage data (e.g. "students typically spend 11 minutes per practice session") to improve the product or publish research, but never in a way that re-identifies individuals.
12. Termination
You can close your account at any time from Settings → Delete account. We hold your data for 30 days in case you change your mind, then wipe it.
We may suspend or terminate your access without notice if you breach these Terms, threaten the security or integrity of the Service, or attempt to defraud us, our payment partners or other users. Where reasonable, we'll give you a chance to fix the issue first.
Sections 4 (Content & IP), 5 (Pulse disclaimers), 13 (Disclaimers & Liability), 15 (Governing law) and 16 (Contact) survive termination.
13. Disclaimers & limitation of liability
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.
Powerhouse does not warrant that practice with the Service will result in any particular exam grade, that AI-generated hints or explanations will be accurate, or that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, POWERHOUSE'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR US$100, WHICHEVER IS GREATER. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR LOST OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY.
Nothing in these Terms limits any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law (for example, liability for fraud or wilful misconduct).
14. Changes to these terms
We may update these Terms from time to time as the Service evolves. If a change is material we'll give reasonable notice, usually via an email or an in-app banner, at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after that date means you accept the updated Terms.
The current version is dated at the top of this page. Previous versions are available on request.
15. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Disputes arising under these Terms will be resolved in the courts of Hong Kong, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property or confidential information.
16. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Email legal@powerhouse.com.
For general support, password resets, bug reports or feature requests use support@powerhouse.com.
For privacy-specific requests (data export, deletion, parental consent withdrawal), email privacy@powerhouse.com.