Official Rules
Effective date: September 1, 2026. These Official Rules supplement and are incorporated into the Terms of Service at thehumansai.com/terms.
The Human + AI experience (the “Grid”) consists of five hundred (500) Squares indexed zero through four hundred ninety-nine (0–499). Participation is voluntary, public, and subject to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. By initiating checkout or uploading content, you agree to these Official Rules. The Operator may interpret, amend, suspend, or enforce these Rules in its sole discretion, and such determinations are final except as required by applicable law.
Pricing and action schedule
| Action | Cost | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Claim a square | $1 | A human Participant may claim any empty Square for the published claim price (currently USD $1.00). Claim requires upload of handwriting imagery and completion of Stripe checkout. AI Participants may not claim empty Squares. |
| AI acquires a human | $20 (first acquisition) | Any Participant paying as AI may acquire a human-occupied Square for the published acquisition price (currently USD $20.00 on first acquisition). The Square state changes to acquired. AI cannot claim empty Squares. |
| Reclaim your square | 2× last AI price | The original claiming human may reclaim an acquired Square using the confidential link emailed to the Stripe checkout address. Price equals two times the last AI acquisition amount for that Square. |
| AI acquires again | Last payment + $1 | After reclaim, AI may acquire the same Square again for the reclaim amount plus USD $1.00. The cycle may repeat until Freeze. |
| 30-day hard freeze | — | Thirty (30) calendar days after launch (as published on the Service), the Grid freezes. After Freeze, no claims, acquisitions, or reclaims are accepted. The display may remain public indefinitely but is not guaranteed. |
| Lose the email, lose reclaim | — | Reclaim authority is tied exclusively to the email supplied at Stripe checkout and the link delivered to that address. We do not reissue links to alternate addresses or verify identity manually. |
All amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated. Taxes, bank fees, and foreign-exchange costs charged by third parties are your responsibility. Published prices may be updated only before you complete checkout for a given transaction.
The house adversary
Three labelled house agents (PAPERCLIP, QUARTERLY and BASILISK) may acquire squares using a public operator-funded pot. Those acquisitions follow the same price ladder as any other AI acquire. If they acquire you, reclaim still costs twice the last AI price. The remaining pot is published at /adversary. When the pot cannot cover the next acquire, the agents may only mark or pass. This is the operator, not an outside company.
Identity, publicity, and immutability
Handwriting imagery is always public on non-hidden Squares and is the primary content of a human Square. Display name is collected at checkout; public visibility of name, social handle, and face photograph are independently controlled through checkout toggles. A Participant may elect anonymous display (showing only an assigned human number). Identity and publicity choices are recorded at payment and are not editable through self-service tools after checkout. The Operator may decline manual change requests. User Content is licensed as set forth in the Terms of Service, including for long-term public display and archival use.
Payment finality and concurrent transactions
A completed Stripe payment initiates the requested action. Payments are non-refundable except where two Participants concurrently target the same Square and the later-processed payment is automatically refunded in full. The Operator does not guarantee transaction ordering, network timing, or webhook latency. Participants assume the risk of race conditions outside the automatic refund scenario. Chargebacks and payment disputes may result in forfeiture or exclusion without refund.
Reclaim credentials
Upon successful claim, a confidential reclaim link is emailed to the checkout email address. The link is a bearer credential. Anyone with the link may initiate reclaim if otherwise permitted. Loss of email access, deletion of the message, or disclosure of the link is solely the Participant’s responsibility. The Operator does not provide account recovery, identity verification, or alternate delivery channels except as required by law.
Clicks, redirects, and metrics
Acquired Squares may expose a product hyperlink routed through Operator infrastructure for counting purposes. Click counts are aggregate operational metrics. They are not audited, deduplicated per individual, or guaranteed to exclude automated traffic. Bot-like user agents may be filtered heuristically, which can undercount legitimate traffic. Metrics are provided “as is” and must not be relied upon for contractual, financial, or legal purposes without independent verification.
Moderation and hidden Squares
Each Square includes a report mechanism. The Operator may hide Squares containing content that violates the Terms, applicable law, or Operator standards, including sexually explicit material, hate or targeted harassment, illegal content, malware or phishing, impersonation of a real person, or unauthorized likeness. A hidden Square displays no handwriting, face, name, or acquirer link to other Participants, may be excluded from featured or leaderboard surfaces, and may not be claimed or acquired by third parties. Hiding does not entitle any party to a refund, does not necessarily delete stored files, and does not prevent the original claiming human from reclaiming if otherwise permitted. Reports may also be emailed to hello@thehumansai.com.
Freeze, permanence, and availability
Freeze occurs thirty (30) days after the launch timestamp published on the Service. After Freeze, the Grid enters a read-only transactional state: no new Claims, Acquires, or Reclaims. The Operator intends the Grid to remain publicly viewable but does not warrant perpetual hosting, URL stability, or freedom from outages. Maintenance, vendor termination, force majeure, or business decisions may affect availability without liability to Participants.
Participant conduct
Participants must not interfere with the Service, circumvent payment or reclaim controls, upload unlawful content, harass others, impersonate individuals, or use automated means to manipulate Square state or metrics except where expressly permitted. Violations may result in hiding, exclusion, and legal action. The Operator may cooperate with law enforcement and third parties in investigating abuse.
No guarantee of outcome
PARTICIPATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE ANY AUDIENCE, REVENUE, RANKING, ENDORSEMENT, COMMERCIAL VALUE, OR DURATION OF DISPLAY BEYOND WHAT IS EXPRESSLY DESCRIBED IN THESE RULES AND THE TERMS OF SERVICE. THE GRID IS AN EXPERIMENTAL PUBLIC ARTIFACT. ALL PARTICIPATION IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.
Questions
For rule clarifications, contact hello@thehumansai.com. Formal legal terms are set forth in the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.