Terms of Service
Effective 2026-05-07.
These terms cover the agreement between Fern Automation and the businesses that use it ("you"). They're written plainly. If anything here is unclear or you'd like a custom written agreement for your engagement, email cosmo@fernautomation.com.
What Fern provides
Software services for running AI agents tailored to your business. Specifically: a hosted Console at fernautomation.com where you sign in, connect your tools (Gmail, etc.), enter knowledge, and review/approve agent output. The agents themselves run on Fern's servers.
Pilot vs. paid status
Fern is early. Engagements typically begin with a free pilot to validate the agents work for your specific business. If we move forward into a paid arrangement, the pricing and scope are agreed in writing (email is fine) before any charges.
During a pilot, Fern absorbs API and infrastructure costs. There are no monthly fees and no contractual lock-in. You can stop the pilot at any time by emailing us; we'll disconnect the agents within 24 hours.
What Fern does with your data
See the Privacy Policy. Short version: we store the minimum needed to make the agents work, encrypt sensitive credentials at rest, send some data to Anthropic and Google to do LLM and email work, and delete everything when you ask.
Acceptable use
You agree not to use Fern to:
- send spam or unsolicited bulk messages
- impersonate other people or organizations
- violate any applicable laws (CAN-SPAM, GDPR, etc.) or the terms of any connected service (Google's Gmail terms, specifically)
- scrape data from sources that prohibit it in their robots.txt or terms
- fabricate testimonials, reviews, or astroturf in closed communities
If we discover misuse, we may suspend the account immediately and notify you. Persistent violations end the engagement.
Approval model
By default, every outbound message any agent generates is drafted and held for human approval in the Console before it sends. You can change this per agent in Settings if you want higher-autonomy modes — but the default is human-approves-everything, and we recommend keeping it on while you're learning what each agent says.
Liability
Fern provides the service "as is." We work hard to keep the agents accurate, on-brand, and reliable, but LLMs occasionally produce wrong or off-tone output. The approval model is the primary safeguard — humans review before sending. You're responsible for what your agents send under your business's name.
Total liability is limited to fees paid to Fern in the prior 12 months (which during a pilot is zero). Fern is not liable for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages.
Termination
Either party may end the engagement at any time, by email. On termination Fern stops billing immediately, disconnects all agents from your services, and deletes your data on the schedule in the Privacy Policy.
Disputes
Governed by Washington state law. Disputes are resolved by informal negotiation first; if unresolved, by binding arbitration in King County, Washington. Both sides waive class action. Customers may opt out of arbitration in writing within 30 days of agreeing to these terms.
Updates
If we change anything material here, we'll email account owners and update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use after the change constitutes acceptance.