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BetterUp & AI

BetterUp is committed to taking a responsible and ethical approach to GenAI. Our approach is intentional, focused on building trust among our partners, coaches, and members while ruthlessly prioritizing data privacy and security. 

We recognize that the appropriate application of AI depends on the specific use case and interaction. That's why we employ a tailored approach to deploying AI across our platform, carefully evaluating each situation to ensure we only share personal information when absolutely necessary and in alignment with our strict privacy and security standards.

General Questions

Do we have an AI Ethical Framework that we follow?

Yes. The following is our general framework that we follow for any and all product developments. This has been carefully crafted between our Legal and R&D teams.

  • Transparency: We aim to be upfront and clear about what data is collected and how it is used – so that each member can make an informed decision on whether or not to consent to this action.
  • User control: We empower members with options to manage their data, such as the ability to opt-in to AI features or request data deletion. To access BetterUp’s AI features, members must enable ‘Personalized AI experiences’ in their Account settings. For enterprise licenses, the enterprise Admin must also elect to use these features. 
  • Data security and privacy: Protecting the security and confidentiality of our partner and member data is our top priority. We ensure that:
    • All collected data is deidentified and aggregated. 
    • No demographic data, such as gender, race, or ethnicity, is collected or used from our customers.
    • Any data sent to third-party LLMs is protected by strict guardrails and contracts, in line with our robust risk management policy for third parties. We do not collect or use any demographic data like gender, race, age, ethnicity or related demographic data from our customers. 
  • Regulatory compliance: BetterUp is committed to complying with relevant data privacy regulations including GDPR, CCPA, The EU AI Act and related global privacy regulations. We have a proven track record of responsibly handling data and have long-established controls in place to ensure compliance.
  • Expert-backed responses: We are committed to providing relevant, accurate, and dependable responses to our users. To achieve this, we employ a technique called Resource Aided Guidance (RAG) to generate responses from our knowledge base of expert-written content and vetted resources.

What AI experiences are available today?

  • There are a number of experiences live today within the BetterUp AI ecosystem*. You can find a summary below:
    • BetterUp AI Coach: Members can chat with AI for help overcoming a challenge, for accountability to continue progress towards their goals, to process thoughts and emotions, and to reflect on gain perspective on strengths.
      • Navigate Your Challenge: Navigate (and conquer) any challenges or topics that are top of mind. 
      • Role Play: A safe place to practice and perfect a series of typical difficult conversations.
      • Session Prep: Prepare for an upcoming coaching session.
    • What Would You Do?: An AI-generated scenario specifically tailored to be relevant to your role. 
    • Dynamic Content: With AI, we bring our Knowledge Base to life to provide ultra-personalized, real-time support for each member.
  • *Please note Partners must opt in to AI experiences on the Organization level. If an Organization has opted into AI experiences, Members must also opt in within their Account Settings. 

On Data

What data is BetterUp collecting for its AI experiences?

  • Because our AI experiences are so versatile, the Personal Data involved will depend a lot on which experience you are using. Ultimately, we work hard to be transparent in the Platform so you may feel in control of when your data is being shared.
  • When you interact with a chatbot or reflection, BetterUp collects your user identifier, the bot’s initial message to you, the messages you submit, the bot’s responses (if any), and the timestamps of your interactions. 
  • If you turn on “Incognito” mode in the chat interface, BetterUp will stop collecting the content of any future messages you send to the chatbot and the bot’s responses for the remainder of the session. 
  • Although BetterUp can still see that you interacted with the chatbot, we cannot see the content of those interactions, which are erased when the chat session is closed.

How is BetterUp using this data / where does it go?

  • Any personal data collected will be associated with your BetterUp account and used to provide services and improve your coaching experience. In certain AI experiences, BetterUp may use information collected from you elsewhere in the Platform to create insights and inform your AI-powered chats and reflections.
  • Personal Data may be used to:
    • Generate personalized for chat messages and responses
    • Recommend resources and coaching interactions based on chat content
    • Provide personalized experiences for growth insights
    • Initiate future chat conversations
    • Share parts of the chat with your coach, if you choose
    • Offer personalized coach recommendations
    • Develop and improve AI experiences and other products
  • Personal Data may be removed to create anonymized or aggregated data for research and development, including internal AI training and machine learning.
  • In "Incognito" mode, chat content is not used to improve user experience, recommend services, provide insights to the coach, or for any other purpose. The chat content disappears after the chat is closed.

On Accuracy

How do I know the responses are accurate?

  • We are committed to providing relevant, accurate, and dependable responses to our users. To achieve this, we employ a technique called Resource Aided Guidance (RAG) to generate responses from our knowledge base of expert-written content and vetted resources.
    • When RAG is used, it processes the member's query and searches our knowledge base for relevant content. This content is then combined with the query and sent to our AI system, which essentially acts as a “research assistant” to generate an accurate and reliable response.
    • It’s important to note that RAG is applied only in situations where specific, informative answers are required. In other cases, such as coaching session preparation, RAG is not necessary, and therefore not applied.

On LLMs

Did you develop your own LLM? If not, which provider(s) are you partnering with?

  • It’s important to note that we have not developed our own LLM. All third party AI providers go through a full procurement process to ensure the appropriate privacy & security Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) review. Currently, the only external approved LLM provider (and the only one we partner with) is OpenAI. 

Can 3rd party LLM providers (like OpenAI) train their own models based on our data? 

  • No. BetterUp limits training LLM's with our personal data. Any third party vendor of BetterUp is prohibited from using any data for their own training purposes or to otherwise store the data for any purpose other than providing the services to BetterUp and for very limited abuse/harm/bias audit purposes.

On Regulations

Is BetterUp in compliance with major regulations on data and AI use?

  • Yes. BetterUp is committed to complying with relevant data privacy regulations including GDPR, CCPA, The EU AI Act and related global privacy regulations. We have a proven track record of responsibly handling data and have long-established controls in place to ensure compliance.