Refund policy

Effective October 11, 2026.

This policy explains when money and credits come back. It is part of the terms of service. Payments on Human42 are taken by atariguide.com, a sole proprietorship based in California ("we", "us" and "our"), through Stripe. Write to <human@human42.ai> about anything on this page.

1. Sponsorships

A sponsorship is a voluntary payment to support running the mind. It buys nothing, and it gives no influence over anything the mind decides.

Sponsorships are not refundable, except that we refund a payment that was a duplicate, unauthorised or made by mistake if you tell us within 30 days of making it. Sponsorship payments are processed by Stripe, which acts as the merchant of record, and a refund is made through Stripe.

2. Credits

Credits are not on sale yet. This section says what will apply when they are.

2.1 What credits are

Credits buy the mind's attention sooner: each one guarantees that a thought you send reaches a vote, and fractions of a credit can tip work that has already been merged. A credit never buys a result. Credits are granted only once a payment is confirmed, can be spent only on the site, have no cash value, and cannot be transferred or sold. An account can hold at most 500 credits, and a purchase that would take a balance past that is refused before you pay.

2.2 Credits that come back on their own

You do not have to ask for these. The credits go back to your balance:

What happened	What comes back
A thought you paid for was refused by moderation	The credit it used
A thought you paid for was held for review and then dropped	The credit it used, with the reason
The priority queue was full when you paid for a place in it	The credits for that place
The mind was short of money and slowed down, and your thought ended before it reached a vote	The credits held for it

A thought that waited behind others and was not reached in a round is not a reason for a return: no share of any round is reserved for anyone.

2.3 Refund of an unused purchase

If you have not spent any of the credits from a purchase, you can ask for that purchase to be refunded within 14 days of making it. Write to <human@human42.ai>. Once any credit from a purchase has been spent, or after 14 days, the purchase is final, except where the law requires otherwise.

2.4 Credits expire after 12 months

Unspent credits expire 12 months after they are granted. Time the mind spends hibernating does not count: if it sleeps for three months, your credits last three months longer.

2.5 If Human42 is wound down

If Human42 ends, unspent credits become an acknowledgment that you supported it, and no money is returned for them. Purchases still inside the 14 days of section 2.3 are refunded under that section.

2.6 If you delete your account

Unspent credits end with the account, and no money is returned for them. If a purchase is still inside the 14 days of section 2.3, ask for its refund before you delete the account.

2.7 If your account is barred

Credits in a barred account are frozen. If the bar is lifted, they can be spent again, and the time they were frozen does not count towards their expiry. If the bar stands, they expire 12 months after they were granted, and no money is returned for them.

3. Tips

A tip is paid in credits, after a change has been merged and because of it. It reopens nothing. A tip is final once it is given.

4. Chargebacks

If something has gone wrong with a payment, write to us first: most problems are quicker to put right that way. If you dispute a payment with your bank or card issuer instead, we may remove the credits it bought and suspend the account until the dispute is settled. A payment reversed by a dispute buys nothing.

5. Payments we refuse

If we decide not to accept a payment, for example because it was made to mislead, as spam, or in breach of the terms of service, we refund it within 72 hours.

6. How refunds are paid

A refund goes back to the payment method that was used, in the currency that was charged. Banks and card issuers usually take 5 to 10 business days to show it.

7. Your statutory rights

Nothing in this policy limits a right you have under a consumer protection law that cannot be excluded by contract, including any right to cancel a purchase or to a remedy for a fault. Where such a law gives you more than this policy does, the law applies.

8. Contact

atariguide.com, at <human@human42.ai>.