Terms of Service

Welcome to Kusi! These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the Kusi mobile application and website (collectively, the "Service"). By using Kusi, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

Questions? Email us at privacy@kusi.ph.

1. Who we are

Kusi (the "app", "we", "us", or "our") is operated by iScale Studio, operated by David Jonathan Tañedo, based in the Republic of the Philippines. Kusi is a Filipino home-cooking app that uses artificial intelligence to suggest meal ideas and generate recipes based on your budget.

2. Eligibility and account requirements

You must be at least 13 years old to use Kusi. If you are between 13 and 18 years old, you must have permission from a parent or legal guardian to use the Service. By using Kusi, you confirm that you meet these requirements.

Kusi does not require traditional account creation — we use anonymous identifiers to keep your data private. You are responsible for the device you use Kusi on and for any actions taken through it.

3. The Service

Kusi uses artificial intelligence (currently provided by Anthropic's Claude API) to generate meal suggestions and recipes based on inputs you provide, such as your budget and household size. The Service includes the Kusi mobile app, this website, and any related features.

Beta status: Kusi is currently in beta. Features may change, be added, or be removed without notice. The Service may experience downtime, bugs, or limitations. We provide the Service "as is" during this period and make no guarantees about availability or feature stability.

4. AI-generated content disclaimer

This is important: Recipes, meal suggestions, cooking instructions, and other content provided by Kusi are generated by artificial intelligence. While we work to make this content accurate and useful, AI can make mistakes, including but not limited to:

• Incorrect cooking times, temperatures, or ingredient amounts
• Recipe combinations that may not taste good or work as described
• Inaccurate cost estimates or serving sizes
• Ingredients or techniques that may not be suitable for users with specific dietary restrictions, allergies, or medical conditions
• Cultural inaccuracies in dish names or descriptions

You are solely responsible for evaluating the appropriateness and safety of any recipe before using it, including but not limited to:

• Checking ingredients for allergens that affect you or your household
• Verifying cooking temperatures are sufficient for food safety
• Adjusting recipes for medical conditions (diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, etc.)
• Confirming dishes are appropriate for pregnant individuals, young children, or anyone with dietary sensitivities
• Following safe food handling practices for raw meats, seafood, and perishables

When in doubt, consult a registered dietitian, doctor, or qualified cooking professional. Kusi is a creative tool, not medical or nutritional advice.

5. Acceptable use

When using Kusi, you agree NOT to:

• Use the Service for any illegal, harmful, or fraudulent purpose
• Attempt to overload, abuse, or interfere with our infrastructure (including bypassing rate limits)
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract source code from the app
• Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to access the Service
• Submit feedback or content that is hateful, harassing, or contains personal information about others
• Use Kusi to generate content for harmful, deceptive, or illegal purposes
• Resell, redistribute, or commercialize Kusi's output without permission
• Impersonate Kusi, iScale Studio, or claim affiliation that doesn't exist

We reserve the right to block, throttle, or terminate access for users who violate these terms.

6. Intellectual property

Our content: The Kusi name, logo, mascot character ("Kusi the cat"), app design, marketing materials, and source code are owned by iScale Studio. You may not copy, modify, or commercially use these without our written permission.

AI-generated recipes: Recipes generated by the Kusi service may be used for your personal, non-commercial cooking. You may share recipes informally with friends and family, including on social media. Commercial use (e.g., publishing in a cookbook, monetizing in a restaurant menu, republishing on a recipe website) requires our written permission.

Your feedback: When you submit feedback through the in-app feedback form, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that feedback to improve the Service. We will not publicly identify you as the author of feedback without your permission.

Third-party trademarks: References to brands, ingredients, or dishes (e.g., "Knorr", "Magic Sarap", regional Filipino dish names) belong to their respective owners. Use in recipes is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement.

7. Cultural and regional accuracy

Filipino cuisine is incredibly diverse across regions, households, and family traditions. Kusi's AI generates recipes based on general patterns and may not perfectly represent every regional variation or family recipe. If a recipe's name, ingredients, or method doesn't match how you or your family makes it — that's normal. Filipino cooking is plural and lived; Kusi is one perspective among many.

We welcome feedback to improve cultural accuracy over time. Email privacy@kusi.ph with concerns or suggestions.

8. Fees and free service

Kusi is currently free to use. There are no subscriptions, in-app purchases, or hidden fees during the beta period. We do not show ads.

We reserve the right to introduce paid features, subscription tiers, or other monetization in the future. Any future paid features will be clearly disclosed before purchase. The current free features described in this document will remain free for users who signed up during the beta period (subject to reasonable fair-use limits).

Because the Service is free, we do not offer refunds, service level agreements (SLAs), or guaranteed uptime.

9. Privacy

Your privacy matters to us. How we collect, use, and protect your data is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

10. Third-party services

Kusi uses third-party services (Supabase for backend, Anthropic for AI generation, Expo for app delivery, Vercel for hosting) to function. Your use of Kusi is also subject to the terms of these providers when they apply. We are not responsible for outages, errors, or changes in these third-party services that may affect Kusi.

11. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times
• Recipes will be accurate, safe, or appropriate for your circumstances
• Defects will be corrected
• The Service is free of viruses or harmful components

Limitation of liability: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, iScale Studio and David Jonathan Tañedo shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of Kusi. This includes (but is not limited to) damages from food that didn't taste good, ingredients that were wasted, dietary issues from following AI-generated recipes, or service downtime affecting your meal planning.

Our total cumulative liability for any claim related to Kusi will not exceed PHP 1,000 (one thousand Philippine pesos) — reflecting the fact that the Service is provided free of charge.

Some jurisdictions don't allow exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability — to that extent, these limitations may not apply to you, but the rest of this section remains in effect.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless iScale Studio, David Jonathan Tañedo, and our affiliates from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your misuse of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

13. Termination

You may stop using Kusi at any time — simply uninstall the app. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if you violate these Terms, or if we discontinue the Service entirely. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including IP, disclaimers, and limitation of liability) will continue to apply after your access ends.

14. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts of Tarlac Province, Philippines, unless required otherwise by applicable consumer protection law in your jurisdiction.

For users in the European Union, United Kingdom, or California: you retain rights under your local consumer protection and data protection laws that cannot be waived by contract.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as Kusi evolves. Material changes will be communicated through an in-app notice and/or by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after a Terms update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. If you disagree with the changes, your sole remedy is to stop using the Service.

16. Severability and entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full effect. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and iScale Studio regarding Kusi.

17. Contact

Questions, complaints, or legal notices? Email us:

privacy@kusi.ph

iScale Studio, operated by David Jonathan Tañedo
Tarlac, Philippines