UMI

Child safety

A child can ask Umiko anything, but only inside Umiko's guardrails, and every conversation is visible to the parent. Here is what that means in practice.

Every message is checked, both ways

  • What a child types or says is checked before the AI sees it. What the AI answers is checked before the child sees it.
  • If a check cannot be completed, the message is stopped. Umiko would rather say nothing than say something unchecked.
  • Phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses and "my name is…" are blocked before they go anywhere.
  • The AI is never told the child's name or age.

The parent sees everything

  • The family page shows what your child asked, what Umiko answered, and anything that was stopped.
  • In a school, the teacher sees the same for their class.
  • There are no private chats and no way for a child to hide a conversation.

What Umiko keeps, and does not

  • Kept: a first name, an age, and what the child does in the app.
  • Never kept: photos of the child, birthdays, voice recordings, location, school name. (The one exception is a test family whose parent switched on keeping voice clips: 60 days, heard only by the Umiko team.)
  • The camera is used only for a homework page, the photo is read once and thrown away, and you can switch homework help off.

If a child seems upset

If a child's words suggest they are sad, scared or in danger, the AI does not answer. The child gets one fixed, warm line that an adult wrote, pointing them to a grown-up they trust. The parent gets a short notice that something needs their attention. The notice never repeats the child's words.

Honest about what it is

  • Children are told plainly that Umiko is an AI, not a person.
  • Everything Umiko says about right and wrong is written and checked by an adult. The AI never makes up advice about values.
  • Umiko stays away from religion, politics, medicine and comments about how anyone looks.

No tricks to keep children on the screen

  • No streaks, no countdowns, no pressure to come back.
  • No adverts. Nothing is ever bought inside a child's screen.
  • Rewards are earned by learning, never with money.
  • You can set a bedtime, after which Umiko goes to sleep.

Grandparents

  • Umiko never asks for an OTP, a PIN, a password or bank details, and never moves money.
  • Screenshots and voice notes are read once and not stored.
  • A scam alert to the family never quotes the grandparent's private messages.

Tell us if something is wrong

If Umiko ever says something it should not, or you have a worry about your child's safety on Umiko, tell us straight away. The details of what we keep are in the Privacy Policy.