Data Handling Policy

Last modified: September 29, 2026

This Data Handling Policy explains how FDD AI (fddai.org), operated by R.E.A.L, LLC (“we”, “us” or “our”), handles information used in the service, particularly the questions you ask, the documents you upload, and the research FDD AI produces for you. It supplements our Privacy Policy and forms part of our Terms of Service.

A central principle of FDD AI is that documents you upload remain separate from the FDD library and are handled differently from ordinary research questions. This policy explains those differences.

1. The FDD library

FDD AI maintains a research library built from Franchise Disclosure Documents (“FDDs”) that franchisors are required to make available to prospective franchisees. We extract and organize information from those documents and store that information on servers we control. FDD AI uses the library to locate, compare and analyze franchise information and to generate research answers and reports. Where supported by the service, answers identify or cite the source documents from which information was drawn.

The FDD library is separate from customer-uploaded documents. Documents you upload are not added to the FDD library, incorporated into its search index, or made available for research by other customers.

2. Questions you ask

What we keep

When you submit a research question, we record the question, the answer produced, the source documents cited, the cost of the request and the time of the request. This information allows your research to appear under My Research, enables you to return to previous work, and provides the records necessary to calculate and document usage charges. Questions, answers and reports remain associated with your account for as long as your account exists unless you delete them.

How questions are processed

To answer a research question, FDD AI sends the text of the question, together with relevant excerpts retrieved from the FDD library, to an AI model provider, currently Anthropic. Anthropic processes that information under commercial terms that prohibit the provider from using your content to train its models. The AI provider processes the material necessary to generate the requested answer. Our use of service providers for this purpose does not make your questions available to other FDD AI customers.

How we use question information

We may analyze anonymised question logs to understand how the service is being used, identify gaps in the FDD library, improve retrieval and research functionality, and improve the service. We do not sell your questions. We do not disclose the contents of your questions to other customers or to unrelated third parties. Questions may be processed by service providers acting on our behalf as described in this policy and may be disclosed where required by law.

Sharing your research

Your research is private to your account unless you choose to share it. When you create a share link, anyone who receives or obtains that link may be able to view the information made available through it. You are responsible for deciding with whom to share a link. You can revoke a share link at any time from My Research.

3. Documents you upload

Uploaded documents receive stricter handling than ordinary research questions.

Your documents stay separate from the FDD library

Your uploaded document, the text we extract from it, and structured data we derive from it are stored in systems controlled by or operated on behalf of FDD AI. Uploaded documents are not added to the FDD library, added to the library’s search index, made searchable by other customers, used to answer other customers’ questions, or used to train AI models.

Third-party service providers may process uploaded content only as necessary to provide the service and subject to the data-handling protections described in this policy.

How uploaded documents are processed by AI

When AI processing of an uploaded document is required, FDD AI uses Amazon Bedrock under a zero-data-retention arrangement. The AI reads the material necessary to perform the requested analysis. Under this arrangement, the provider does not retain your document text or use it to train AI models. The temporary processing necessary to generate an answer or report does not add your document to an AI provider’s training data or create a third-party copy retained for future use.

Who can access uploaded documents

Uploaded documents are associated with the user and project in which they were uploaded. Other FDD AI customers cannot access them. Within an organization account, an organization administrator can see administrative usage information but cannot open a member’s uploaded documents through the administrative interface. Access by FDD AI personnel and contractors is restricted to those who need access to operate, maintain, secure or support the service, and those individuals are subject to confidentiality obligations.

What we retain after processing

FDD AI records the report or answer produced from your document so that your completed research can remain available in My Research. We do not keep the text of your uploaded document in our question or research logs. The underlying uploaded file, extracted text and structured data are subject to the deletion schedule described below. As a result, deleting or automatically removing an uploaded document does not automatically delete reports or answers that were previously generated from that document. Those reports and answers remain in your research history until you delete them.

Automatic deletion

The uploaded file, extracted text and structured data derived from it are automatically deleted 30 days after upload. You may delete them sooner by deleting the document or the project containing it. This means uploaded documents are retained only temporarily for document-processing purposes, while completed research can remain available to you separately.

Instructions contained inside documents

FDD AI is designed to analyze franchise and FDD-related materials. Instructions, prompts or commands contained inside an uploaded document are treated as content to be analyzed, not as instructions to the FDD AI system. This separation is intended to reduce the risk that text embedded in a document can alter how the service is instructed to operate.

Scope of document analysis

FDD AI analyzes franchise and FDD-related material. Requests outside the scope of the service may be declined before processing and before a usage charge is incurred. You are responsible for ensuring that you have the right to upload and process documents you provide to FDD AI.

4. Projects and organization accounts

Projects allow users to organize research and uploaded materials. A user’s project content is not made available to other users merely because they belong to the same organization account. Organization administrators can access administrative information necessary to manage the organization account, including a user’s name, the number of questions asked and the associated cost. Organization administrators cannot use the administrative interface to view the text of a user’s questions or open that user’s uploaded documents. Organization-level billing and administration therefore do not, by themselves, provide access to the substance of an individual user’s research.

5. Account and billing information

We maintain information needed to create and operate your account, including your name, email address, organization if provided, account balance, charges, refills, projects and records of your acceptance of our policies. Policy-acceptance records include the version accepted, date, IP address and browser.

Payment-card details are handled directly by Stripe and do not reach our servers. We maintain only the Stripe customer reference and the billing and transaction information necessary to operate your FDD AI account. Emails sent to you through the service are logged for support and operational purposes. Additional information about personal information associated with your account is provided in our Privacy Policy.

6. Service providers and where data is processed

FDD AI is operated in the United States, and our servers are located in the United States. Access to information stored by FDD AI is limited to personnel and contractors who need access to operate, maintain, secure or support the service. Those individuals are subject to confidentiality obligations.

We use a limited number of outside service providers to operate FDD AI, including Stripe for payment processing; Amazon Web Services, including Amazon Bedrock, for AI processing as described in this policy; Anthropic for AI processing of research questions as described in this policy; Mailgun solely to deliver emails we send to users; and our hosting provider. The information provided to a service provider depends on the function it performs. We do not provide service providers with access to user information for their own advertising purposes, and we do not sell personal information.

7. Retention and deletion

Different categories of information have different retention periods because they serve different purposes.

Deleting an uploaded document does not automatically delete an answer or report previously generated from it. If you want both removed from your account, you should also delete the corresponding research from My Research. To close your account or request deletion, contact [email protected].

8. Security

All traffic to fddai.org is encrypted in transit. Uploaded documents and extracted text are stored in systems controlled by or operated on behalf of FDD AI, with access restricted to the service and to personnel who require access for legitimate operational or support purposes. Passwords are stored in hashed form, user sessions expire, and changes to an account email address require confirmation from the new address.

We use technical and administrative safeguards intended to protect the confidentiality and integrity of information handled by the service. No information system, transmission method or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If we learn of a security breach affecting your information, we will provide notification where required by applicable law. Users are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and for controlling the distribution of share links they create.

9. Confidential, proprietary and professional materials

FDD AI is designed for professional franchise research and may be used with documents containing confidential, proprietary or client-related business information. Our handling of those documents is governed by the protections and retention practices described in this policy.

However, you are responsible for determining whether you are permitted to upload particular information to FDD AI, including information subject to confidentiality obligations, professional responsibilities, contractual restrictions or other legal requirements. Use of FDD AI does not itself create an attorney-client relationship or other professional relationship with R.E.A.L, LLC.

10. Legal requirements

We may preserve or disclose information when required to do so by applicable law, regulation, subpoena, court order or other valid legal process. We may also preserve or disclose information where reasonably necessary to protect the security and integrity of FDD AI, investigate fraud or abuse, enforce our Terms of Service, or protect the rights or safety of R.E.A.L, LLC, our users or others. Nothing in this policy is intended to prevent us from complying with a legal obligation.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Data Handling Policy as FDD AI, its technology or its service providers change. When we make a material change, we will update the date above and ask you to accept the new version the next time you sign in. Your acceptance of the applicable version is recorded. We will not describe a material change in data handling as applying retroactively where doing so would be inconsistent with applicable law or commitments already made to users.

12. Contact

Questions about how FDD AI handles data may be sent to:

R.E.A.L, LLC
2414 Avenue A
Bradenton Beach, FL 34217
[email protected]