Human Archive

Contributor Recording Rules

Last updated: July 30, 2026

These Contributor Recording Rules tell you what you can and cannot record when you contribute to Human Archive. They apply every time you record a video task or take part in a Voice Exchange task through the Human Archive app. By creating a contributor account and submitting recordings, you agree to follow these rules, and you confirm at the start of each recording that you understand and will follow them.

These rules work together with our Privacy Policy and our Contributor Terms. If anything in these rules conflicts with the Contributor Terms, the Contributor Terms control; otherwise these rules apply on their own terms.

1. Who Can Be a Contributor

To contribute to Human Archive you must:

Be at least 18 years old.
Live in a region where the Service is offered. The Service is not currently offered to residents of Illinois, Texas, Washington, or Oregon. If you move to any of those states (or to any other state in which we are not offering the Service at the time), you must stop using the Service and tell us so we can close your account.
Have an active contributor account in good standing.
Have the legal right to record at the location where you are recording.

We may decline to offer the Service in additional states or countries at any time. If we add new geographic restrictions, we will tell you in the app.

2. The Two Kinds of Tasks

Human Archive has two kinds of contributor tasks, and different rules apply to each:

Video tasks. You use the app to record first-person video of an everyday task. Your device captures video and motion data only. The microphone is not used and no audio is recorded during a video task. Video-task rules are in Section 4.
Voice Exchange tasks. Voice Exchange is a separate, optional feature. It has three sub-types: (i) a solo task in which you speak on a topic we give you or read aloud a script we provide, (ii) a one-time reading assessment used to check your language proficiency before your first Voice Exchange task in a language, and (iii) a live two-party conversation in which you are matched or invited by phone number to speak with another contributor. Voice Exchange tasks record and process audio; video is not captured. Voice Exchange rules are in Section 5.

You can choose either kind of task. If you use Voice Exchange, you will go through a separate voice-consent step before your first Voice Exchange task, and, for two-party conversations, a per-call consent step before each conversation begins.

3. The Core Rules (Read These First)

These principles run through the rest of this document:

Record only yourself and your own activities. Human Archive recordings are first-person for video and speaker-first for voice.
Do not include other people in a video recording. If anyone else walks into frame, pause the recording. If a video session captured another person, do not submit it. Different rules apply to Voice Exchange conversations, where two consenting contributors are expected — see Section 5.
Never record children. Anyone under 18 must not appear in any video and must not be audible on any Voice Exchange recording, even with parental consent.
Keep sensitive information out of your recordings. This applies whether the information is visible in a video frame or spoken aloud in a Voice Exchange recording. Specific examples are in Section 7.
Record only where you have the right to record. This includes other people’s homes only with permission and workplaces only if your employer permits.
Do not try to disguise rejected content. If we reject a submission, do not re-submit the same or a substantially similar recording.
You are responsible for what you submit. If you are uncertain whether a recording follows these rules, do not submit it. Contact us instead.

4. Rules for Video Tasks

For every video task:

The recording is taken from your point of view.
You are the only person who should appear in the recording, and even you should appear only as hands, feet, or other body parts incidental to the task you are performing. Do not include shots of your own face.
No other person may appear, in whole or in part, in the recording — including hands, arms, legs, faces, reflections, or other identifying features.
The microphone is not used during a video task and audio is not captured. If you speak, your voice is not recorded into the video clip.
If a household member, roommate, coworker, child, or guest is present during your session, you must conduct the session in a way that prevents them from being visible in the recording — for example, by recording in a closed room or pausing when they come near.

The rule is simple: if it is not your own hands or your own task, it does not go in the video. This is true even if the other person is your spouse, your child, your friend, or another adult member of your household, and even if they would give you permission to be filmed. No children ever, even with parental consent.

5. Rules for Voice Exchange Tasks

Voice Exchange records and processes your voice. Before you take part in any Voice Exchange task, we present a one-time voice-consent screen in the app that explains what we collect, how we use it, and how to withdraw consent. Before every live conversation, we also present a per-call consent screen that you must affirmatively accept before recording begins. Do not proceed with any Voice Exchange task unless you have read and accepted these consents.

5.1 Solo tasks (speaking on a topic, reading a script, and the reading assessment)

A solo task records only your voice. This includes the reading assessment we ask you to complete once, in each language, before your first Voice Exchange task in that language.

Only your voice should be audible on the recording. If a household member, roommate, or other person speaks within range of the microphone, pause the recording and restart in a quieter setting.
Record in a private space you control (for example, a room in your own home with the door closed). Do not record in public spaces, workplaces, or other shared areas where other people might be heard.
Do not record over a phone call, video call, voice-assistant interaction (such as Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant), television, radio, music, podcast, or other audio source.
Do not read a script aloud that contains other people’s personal information or sensitive content — the only scripts you should read aloud are the ones Human Archive provides for the task.

5.2 Two-party conversations

A two-party conversation records two people speaking with each other. The other party is either matched to you by Human Archive or invited by you (or by them) using a phone-number invitation. Because both voices are being recorded, both parties must consent to the recording. The app captures that consent from both parties through the per-call consent screen before the conversation begins.

Take part in a Voice Exchange conversation only if the other party is a Human Archive contributor who has completed the same one-time voice consent and the per-call consent for that conversation. If you were invited by phone number and you are not sure whether the person on the other end has completed those steps, do not proceed.
Only you and the other Human Archive contributor should be audible on the recording. Do not conduct a Voice Exchange conversation on a speakerphone in a room where bystanders can be heard, and pause the conversation if a bystander begins speaking.
Do not conduct a Voice Exchange conversation while any other person is in the room with either party, unless that person is silent and stays silent throughout.
Do not conference in any third person. Voice Exchange conversations are strictly two-party.
Do not share sensitive personal information about yourself or others during a conversation (see Section 7 for examples). What is said aloud is recorded, stored, and included in datasets we license to third parties.
Do not conduct a Voice Exchange conversation while operating a vehicle, using dangerous machinery, or in any setting where a recorded conversation would be unsafe or unlawful.

6. Places You May Not Record

Regardless of whether you are doing a video task or a Voice Exchange task, do not record in any of the following places:

Bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms, or any other place where there is a heightened expectation of privacy.
Bedrooms or private spaces of any person other than yourself.
Other people’s homes, unless you have express advance permission from the resident to record for the purpose of contributing to Human Archive.
Schools, daycares, or any other childcare or child-education facility.
Hospitals, medical offices, dental offices, mental-health facilities, pharmacies, or any other healthcare setting.
Polling places, voting locations, or any government facility where recording is restricted.
Places of worship, unless you have express permission from the institution.
Public restrooms, public-transportation interiors, or other public settings where local law restricts recording.
Any location where signage, a contract, or a law prohibits recording.
Any location where you do not have the legal right to be present.

Your own home is permitted, with the exception of your own bedroom, bathroom, and any other room in your home where another person is present.

7. Things You Must Not Capture (Video or Voice)

Before each session, take a moment to remove or cover the following items (for video) and to make a mental note not to say the following aloud (for voice):

Government-issued identification numbers and documents, including Social Security or other tax identification numbers, driver’s license or state ID numbers, and passport numbers.
Financial account numbers, credit-card or debit-card numbers, checking- or savings-account numbers, and other financial-account information.
Login credentials, passwords, PINs, and security codes.
Medical or health information about yourself or others, including diagnoses, prescriptions, prescription-bottle labels, lab results, and other healthcare paperwork.
Other people’s personal information, including their names in combination with contact details, their addresses, and their identifying documents.
Contents of computer, laptop, tablet, phone, smart-TV, smart-speaker, and doorbell-camera screens showing personal information, messages, emails, calendars, banking apps, or login screens.
Mail, envelopes, or other paperwork showing recipients’ or senders’ names or addresses.
Photographs or framed pictures showing other people (especially children).
Loyalty cards, member IDs, work badges, building-access cards, and similar identification cards.
Vehicle license plates, vehicle registration documents, and vehicle insurance cards.
Business confidential information, trade secrets, or any document or discussion your employer has identified as proprietary or non-public.
Home-security keypads, alarm-system displays, and security-camera feeds.

For video tasks, if any of the above is unavoidable in your recording area, do not record there. For Voice Exchange tasks, if any of the above would need to be said aloud to complete the task, do not proceed.

8. Prohibited Content

Do not record, submit, or attempt to submit any content that depicts, describes, or involves:

Children (anyone under 18), in any form.
Nudity or sexual content, including partial or incidental nudity.
Sexual activity or sexually suggestive activity.
Violence, threats of violence, weapons being used for violence, or simulated violence.
Illegal drug use, or any other criminal activity.
Animal cruelty, harm to animals, or activity that violates animal-welfare laws.
Discriminatory, harassing, hateful, or threatening conduct directed at any person or group.
Content recorded or spoken under coercion, duress, or pressure from another person.
Content that infringes another person’s intellectual-property rights, including copying copyrighted books, music, films, video games, or images visible in frame, or reading copyrighted material aloud beyond fair-use quotation.
Anything else that a reasonable person would find seriously offensive, deceptive, or harmful.

Submitting any of the above may result in immediate termination of your account and, where the conduct is criminal, a report to law-enforcement authorities.

9. Recording at Work or in a Business

You may not record while you are working for an employer or providing services to a client, and you may not conduct a Voice Exchange conversation about your work, unless all three of the following are true:

Your employer or client has given you written permission to record for the purpose of contributing to Human Archive;
Your recording will not capture customers, clients, patients, students, or other third parties (whether in video or in what is said aloud); and
Your recording will not capture trade secrets, confidential information, or any information your employer has identified as proprietary or non-public.

If you are a healthcare worker, an attorney, a financial professional, a teacher, a clergy member, or any other professional with confidentiality obligations to the people you serve, do not record while practicing your profession or interacting with the people you serve. Confidentiality obligations override any general permission to record.

10. What You Confirm When You Submit a Recording

Each time you submit a recording to Human Archive, you confirm to us that:

You followed these Recording Rules during the session.
For a video task, the recording shows only you and your own activities, with no other people visible, and no audio.
For a Voice Exchange solo task, the recording contains only your own voice.
For a Voice Exchange two-party conversation, the recording contains only your voice and the voice of the matched or invited Human Archive contributor with whom you spoke, and both of you completed the per-call consent screen before the recording began.
The recording does not capture any of the prohibited content described in Sections 7 and 8.
You have the legal right to record at the location where you recorded.
The recording is your own original recording, made for Human Archive, and has not been submitted to any other dataset, platform, or service for compensation.
You will not submit the same or substantially similar recording more than once.
The recording is genuine — you have not staged it to misrepresent your activities, and you have not used generative-AI or post-production tools to alter the recording.
You consent to our review of the recording (including automated and human review as described in our Privacy Policy) and to the uses of the recording and associated data described in our Privacy Policy.

11. How We Review Your Submissions

Every submission goes through a quality-assurance review. The review process may include:

For video tasks: on-device analysis (such as hand-visibility detection) and, separately, review of still frames sampled from your recording by a third-party AI service to confirm task-relevance. Your full video recordings and motion data are not transmitted to the AI service; only a small number of sampled frames are.
For Voice Exchange solo tasks and conversations: automated review by our systems, including transcription, language detection, speaker-count check, audio-quality scoring, and an AI-generated-voice probability check. Voice recordings and derived data are processed by our real-time-communications provider (LiveKit, for live conversation routing) and our cloud infrastructure (for storage and quality-assurance analysis).
For the Voice Exchange proficiency assessment specifically: the assessment audio clip is sent to a third-party AI service for scoring. Live conversation audio is not sent to that service.
Human review by trained Human Archive reviewers, particularly for submissions that automated review flags for follow-up.
Random audit review of submissions selected for spot-checking.

If a submission passes review, it is approved for payment and may be included in datasets licensed to AI and robotics customers as described in our Privacy Policy. Video submissions and Voice Exchange submissions are licensed as separate datasets. If a submission is rejected, you will see the rejection in the app, and the submission will be removed from our active systems on the schedule described in our Privacy Policy.

Human Archive may reverse or revoke an approval that was issued due to technical error, fraud, duplicate submissions, or material quality or policy issues discovered after initial review. Human Archive will notify the contributor of any such reversal. No payout is earned until a submission has received final approval under our review process.

12. What Happens if You Break These Rules

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the violation, we may do any one or more of the following:

Reject the submission and not pay you for it.
Hold or reverse payments that have not yet been processed.
Suspend your contributor account temporarily.
Terminate your contributor account permanently and prevent you from creating a new account.
Refer the matter to law-enforcement authorities where the violation involves illegal activity, including recording or possession of child sexual abuse material, threats of violence, fraud, or other criminal conduct.
Take any other action permitted by our Contributor Terms or by applicable law.

We may take more than one of these actions for the same violation, and we may act without prior notice to you.

13. Reporting Issues to Us

If something goes wrong during a session — another person walks into frame, you accidentally capture a screen, you realize after submission that a recording should not have been submitted, or a Voice Exchange conversation captured content that should not have been captured — please contact us as soon as possible at team@humanarchive.ai. We will work with you to remove the recording from our active systems. Promptly reporting an inadvertent issue is treated very differently from concealing one.

If you believe another contributor’s submission violated these rules and may have included you, your home, your family, or your information, please contact us at team@humanarchive.ai and we will investigate.

14. Changes to These Rules

We may update these Recording Rules from time to time. When we make material changes, we will tell you within the app or by another reasonable means. Your continued use of the Service after the updated rules take effect means that you accept the updated rules.