AAAI Website Privacy Policy
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (“AAAI,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and we are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy” or “Policy”).
This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit and/or access our website: https://www.aaai.org/ (our “Website”), our mobile application (our “App”), establish an account (the “Account”) to (a) access our member services (the “Membership”), subscribe to the official publication of the AAAI, AI Magazine (the “AI Magazine”), (b) access online version of the AI Magazine, (c) participate in the annual conference, other conferences, and symposia hosted by the AAAI (the “Conferences”), and/or (d) submit paper for publication in the AI Magazine and/or AAAI Press (the “Submission”).
This Policy also describes our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. Our Website and App contain links to other third-party websites over which we have no control. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of other websites that you visit through a link on our Website or App.
From time to time, we reserve the right to modify or amend the terms of our Policy. You will be notified of such changes by notifications on our Website and/or App, by email notification informing you of such changes, or by any other reasonable means as required by applicable law. You should check this Policy frequently for any changes. Your continued use of our Website and/or our App following the posting of changes to this Policy will mean that you accept those changes.
BY ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE, BY USING OUR APP, AND/OR BY CREATING AN ACCOUNT, YOU AGREE TO AND ACCEPT THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT ACCESS OR USE OUR WEBSITE AND/OR APP, AND/OR CREATE AN ACCOUNT.
- Minors and Children Under the Age of 13
Our Website, App, and Membership are not for minors or children under the age of 13. Further, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under age 13. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@aaai.org.
- Information We Collect About You and How We Process That Information
We collect several types of information from you when you use our Website and/or App, and/or when you create an Account, including the following information:
- Membership. When you become a member of the AAAI (a “Member”), we collect the following information about you – your name, your employer’s name, your work address (including your country location), and your email address. We may also collect your personal email address, personal mailing address, and phone number. We ask our members to voluntarily provide additional information, such as information about your age, gender, nationality, race or ethnic origin, educational background, number of years in the field of AI, interests, and the like (all collectively, “Personal Information” or “Personal Data”).
Members may edit their profile at any time to change, add, or remove Personal Information.
AAAI maintains an online directory of its current members that is available only to its current members (the “AAAI Directory”). Data fields are customizable and you are invited to opt-in to have your information shared in the AAAI Directory.
We process your Personal Information for Membership administration, to deliver member benefits to you, including delivering the AI Magazine, AAAI Press, and other AAAI publications and newsletters to inform you of the AAAI-related events, content, and other benefits or opportunities associated with your AAAI Membership. The AAAI may also use this information to help understand our members’ needs and interests to better service the AAAI member community, including contacting you for voluntary participation in the AAAI surveys conducted by the AAAI or AAAI approved third parties.
The AAAI relies on consent (and explicit consent, where applicable, per Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) and UK General Data Protection Regulation, tailored by the UK Data Protection Act 2018, as applicable (both, hereby referred to as “GDPR”) and fulfillment of contract as the lawful basis under Article 6 of GDPR for processing Members’ Personal Information.
- Manuscript and Paper Submission. The AAAI will collect Personal Information about you when you submit your manuscript and/or paper via our Website submission portal, which is hosted and maintained by our third-party service provider. The AAAI may use Personal Information provided during submission to analyze data about the submitters. The AAAI may share your Personal Information with its approved sister organization(s) to prevent author misconduct.
The AAAI relies on consent and fulfillment of contract as the lawful basis under Article 6 of GDPR for processing this information.
- Reviewer. The AAAI will collect Personal Information about you when you sign-up to be the reviewer of the manuscript(s) and paper(s) (the “Reviewer”) via our Website. The AAAI may use Personal Information of the Reviewer to analyze data about the Reviewer. The AAAI may share your Personal Information with its approved sister organization(s) to prevent Reviewer misconduct.
The AAAI relies on consent and fulfillment of contract as the lawful basis under Article 6 of GDPR for processing this information.
- Conferences. The AAAI, along with its partners and/or authorized third-party sister organizations hosts Conferences and from time to time may host additional conferences. The AAAI members can register for Conferences via a third-party website, which may be governed by its own privacy policy.
The AAAI relies on a legitimate interest basis for collecting, storing, and processing this information.
- Job Seekers. You may apply for jobs posted on our website. The AAAI does not collect any information related to your job application and that information is solely collected, processed, and transmitted by our third-party service providers.
- Purposes for processing your data. As explained above, the AAAI processes your data to provide you with the goods or services you have requested or purchased from us, including membership services and subscription to the AI Magazine, AAAI Press, and/or AAAI newsletter. We use this information to refine our goods and services to better tailor them to your needs and to communicate with you about other services the AAAI offers that may assist you in your career. Most of the time, the AAAI needs to process your Personal Information to fulfill an order for goods or services. Sometimes, the AAAI relies upon your consent, in which case we will keep a record of it and honor your choices.
Other times the AAAI has a legitimate interest in processing data to better understand the needs, concerns, and interests of AAAI members so the AAAI can operate optimally as an association, such as:
- for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure;
- for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice; or
- for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
- Payment card information. You may choose to purchase goods or services from the AAAI, including purchasing or renewing Membership, by using a payment card or by sending us a check. Payment card information is provided directly by users, via the AAAI website, into the PCI/DSS-compliant payment processing service to which the AAAI subscribes, and the AAAI does not, itself, processes or stores the card information.
- Communication. If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you, such as your name, email address, phone numbers, and the contents of the message.
- Information that we collect when you use our Website and/or App.
- Location Information. We collect this information from you automatically via Google Analytics as you navigate through our Website or App, through your Internet provider or wireless service provider, whichever applicable.
- Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies (Google Analytics). As you navigate through and interact with our Website and/or App, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:
- Non-personal details of your visits to our Website and/or App, including traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data, and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
- Information about your computer and Internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, browser type, the time that you spend on our Website and/or App.
We use Google Analytics to collect such data. Terms of Service for Google Analytics are available here: https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html.
We also use cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website or App. Unless, you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website or App.
We may use the following types of cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies. Our Website and App require the use of these cookies to properly operate or provide necessary functions relating to the services you request. They include, for example, cookies enabling you to securely log into our Website and/or App.
- Analytical/performance cookies. These cookies allow us and our third-party service providers to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us improve how our website works by, for example, ensuring that customers can easily find what they need on our website. These cookies generate aggregate statistics that are not associated with an individualized profile.
- Functionality cookies. These cookies enable helpful but non-essential website functions that improve your Website and App experience. By recognizing you when you return to our Website and/or App, they may, for example, allow us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name, or remember your preferences.
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
- Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
- Do Not Track. Do Not Track is a privacy preference that can be set in a web browsers. Our Website recognizes do not track browser setting or signals. For information about do not track, please visit https://allaboutdnt.com/.
The information we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include Personal Information, but we may maintain it or associate it with Personal Information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and App and to deliver a better and more personalized service. We use automatic data collection to (a) understand and save your preferences for future visits; (b) compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future.
Finally, we may also collect your aggregated or de-identified information, including, but not limited to metadata and meta-reviews. We may use such information for any business purpose, including but not limited to reviewing reviewer and submitter data, Conferences data, etc.
- Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information or de-identified information, including, but not limited to metadata and meta-reviews, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
We do not otherwise reveal your Personal Information to third parties unless any of the following apply:
- To our employees, other AAAI personnel, authorized sister organizations of AAAI, and/or current and future program chairs on a need to know basis;
- To contractors, service providers and other third parties, such as our payment processing partners or third party survey conductors, we use to support our business and to provide you service, and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep Personal Information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information;
- To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including respond to any government or regulatory request;
- To enforce or apply our terms of service, and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes;
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of AAAI, our members or others; or
- With your consent.
- Third-Party Links On Our Website
Our Website and/or App may contain links to other third-party websites for your convenience. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other third parties and any information you submit to a third party is subject to their privacy policy. Once you leave our Website and/or App, or are redirected to a third-party website, application, or other online service, we encourage you to read the privacy policy applicable to that third party.
- AAAI Communications
You may opt-out of receiving promotional email communication from us by sending us an email at privacy@aaai.org. You will not be able to opt-out of transactional email communication, such as communication related to your Account, billing/payment, etc.
- Your California Privacy Rights
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside third parties your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request certain information regarding disclosure of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to privacy@aaai.org.
- Transferring Personal Information (Personal Data) to the US
The AAAI is established and headquartered in the United States. Information we collect from you will be processed in the United States. The United States has not sought nor received a finding of “adequacy” from the European Union under Article 45 of GDPR. Pursuant to Article 46 of the GDPR, the AAAI is providing for appropriate safeguards by entering binding, standard data protection clauses, enforceable by data subjects in the EEA and the UK. The AAAI relies on derogations for specific situations as set forth in Article 49 of the GDPR.
In particular, the AAAI collects and transfers to the U.S. Personal Information (or otherwise referred to as Personal Data, see above) only: with your consent; to perform a contract with you; or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest of the AAAI in a manner that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. The AAAI endeavors to apply suitable safeguards to protect the privacy and security of your personal data and to use it only consistent with your relationship with the AAAI and the practices described in this Privacy Policy. The AAAI also enters into data processing agreements and model clauses with its vendors whenever feasible and appropriate.
- Data Subject Rights
GDPR and other countries’ privacy laws provide certain rights for data subjects. A good explanation of them (in English) is available on the website of the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office.
This Privacy Policy is intended to provide you with information about what Personal Information (also referred to as Personal Data, see above) the AAAI collects about you and how it is used. If you have any questions, please contact us at cpo@aaai.org.
If you wish to confirm that the AAAI is processing your Personal Data, or to have access to the Personal Data the AAAI may have about you, please contact us at cpo@aaai.org. Under this Privacy Policy, you may:
- Request information about the following:
- the purpose of the processing;
- the categories of Personal Data concerned;
- who else outside the AAAI might have received the data from the AAAI;
- what the source of the information was (if you didn't provide it directly to the AAAI); and
- how long it will be stored.
- Correct (rectify) the record of your Personal Data maintained by the AAAI, if it is inaccurate.
- Request that the AAAI erase that data or cease processing it, subject to certain exceptions.
- Request that the AAAI cease using your data for direct marketing purposes, if applicable.
- Lodge a complaint with the appropriate data protection authority, as applicable, if you have concerns about how the AAAI processes your Personal Data.
- Request AAAI to provide your Personal Data to you or transmit it directly to another controller.
Reasonable access to your Personal Data will be provided at no cost to you upon request made to the AAAI at cpo@aaai.com. If access cannot be provided within a reasonable time frame, the AAAI will provide you with a date when the information will be provided. If for some reason access is denied, the AAAI will provide an explanation as to why access has been denied.
- Data Processing and Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers behind firewalls.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website or App, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Information, by encrypting data in transit, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to our Website or App. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website or App.
- Data Storage and Retention
Your Personal Information is stored by the AAAI on the servers of the cloud-based database management services the AAAI engages, located in the United States. The AAAI retains data for the duration of the Member’s business relationship with the AAAI and for a period of time thereafter to allow Members to recover accounts if they decide to renew, to analyze the data for AAAI’s own operations, and for historical and archiving purposes associated with AAAI’s history as a Membership association. For more information on where and how long your Personal Information is stored, and for more information on your rights of erasure and portability, please contact the AAAI at cpo@aaai.com.
- Changes to Our Privacy Policy
It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on our Website, App, by sending you an email notification, or any other method prescribed under applicable law. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring that we have your up-to-date active and deliverable email address, and for periodically visiting our Website, our App, and this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.
- Contact Information
To ask questions or comment about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at:
Attn: Privacy
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
2275 East Bayshore Road
Suite 160
Palo Alto, CA 94303
privacy@aaai.org.