Spout Terms of Use

Effective date: July 27, 2026

These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) are a binding contract between you and Panels Research, Inc. They govern your access to and use of the Services. By accessing or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

Arbitration & Class-Action Waiver: Except for certain types of disputes (see Section 14), disputes will be resolved by binding individual arbitration and you waive your right to participate in a class action. You can opt out within 30 days (Section 14).

1) What Spout does

Spout lets people talk to other people. With clear disclosures and in-product notices, we record conversations, create transcripts/derivatives, and license those datasets to companies for training, fine-tuning, evaluating, and benchmarking voice models. See our Privacy Policy for how we collect, use, and share information.

1.1 Recording and licensing is the service

Spout is a paid voice-data service, and that is the whole of it. We pay you for recordings of your voice, and we license those recordings to our customers to train, fine-tune, evaluate, and benchmark AI and speech systems. There is no unrecorded mode and no other reason to hold a Spout account: every project records, and taking part in that recording and licensing is the service you are paid for. We tell you this before you create an account, again before you join a project, and again before each recording or call begins. If you do not agree to this model, please do not use Spout.

Because the transfer is the service itself, it only ever happens because you chose it. You decide whether to join Spout, which projects to take, and whether to start each recording task or join each call. Recording happens only inside a recording task you started or a call you joined, and it stops when that task or call ends. Spout never listens in the background: the app does not run while it is closed, and it does not request the Android foreground-service permissions that background microphone capture requires. We never license your recordings to advertising networks or data brokers, and we never use them to build advertising or marketing profiles.

Some US state privacy laws classify licensing of this kind as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, regardless of how the underlying rights are structured. We disclose it as one rather than arguing about the label, and we honor opt-out requests. See the Privacy Policy for how to exercise that right and what it means for work you have already contributed.

2) Eligibility & accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old (or older where the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction is higher) and able to enter a binding contract.
• You agree to provide accurate, complete, and up-to-date registration information and to keep it that way.
• Keep your credentials confidential; you’re responsible for activity on your account.

If you use single sign-on or third-party accounts, you authorize us to access permitted information needed to provide the Services.

3) Recording disclosure & consent

3.1 Notice & consent

Before or when you join a conversation, we display a clear recording notice. By joining/continuing, you consent to recording and processing described here and in our Privacy Policy, including licensing to customers for AI model work.

3.2 Your responsibilities to participants

If you invite or host others, you must ensure all participants receive legally required recording notices and consent where applicable. Do not record anyone who does not consent.

3.3 No expectation of deletion from trained models

Once data is included in a trained model, it generally cannot be “untrained.” We’ll honor rights and deletion requests on a go-forward basis as described in our Privacy Policy.

4) Your content & license to Spout

“User Content” means anything you submit, upload, say, stream, or otherwise provide via the Services (including audio, transcripts, chat, prompts, titles, tags, and feedback).

You retain your rights in User Content. You grant Spout a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable, transferable, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, host, store, transcribe, adapt, translate, analyze, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform/display, and commercially license the User Content and derivatives in connection with the Services and our (and our customers’/partners’) development, training, fine-tuning, testing, evaluation, safety, and benchmarking of AI models and related products, and to promote Spout. This license survives account closure and these Terms. (Privacy limits still apply.)

You represent and warrant that: (a) the User Content is your own, and where it includes any other person's voice, image, or personal information, you have that person's explicit prior consent to record them and to grant the rights in these Terms; (b) you have all rights, consents, and permissions necessary to grant the license above, and your User Content and our use of it as described in these Terms will not violate any law or infringe or misappropriate anyone's rights, including intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or confidentiality rights; (c) the User Content does not contain the voice, image, or personal information of anyone under 18; (d) you collected and created the User Content lawfully, and provided any notices and obtained any consents that applicable privacy laws require before recording; and (e) the User Content is not unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or harassing, and does not contain malware.

Contributing is the paid service. Being included in the datasets we license is what you are paid for. You may stop contributing, and may withdraw your consent to future collection, at any time by contacting us or closing your account. Withdrawal applies going forward: it ends your participation as a paid contributor and does not affect User Content already licensed to a customer or already used to train a model, which cannot be recalled (see Section 3.3). If you withdraw or revoke consent for specific User Content that we have not yet licensed, we will stop offering it and remove it from availability.

Biometric notice. Voice recordings, and data derived from them, can be considered biometric information under some state laws when they are used to identify a specific individual. We use and license recordings to build voice and speech datasets, as described in our Privacy Policy (Sections 2 and 6).

You also grant us the right to make technical changes to conform to network, device, or media requirements.

5) Spout content & IP

The Services, including software, features, interfaces, and all content we provide (excluding your User Content), are owned by us and our licensors and protected by IP laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services for their intended purpose, subject to these Terms. We reserve all other rights.

6) Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Violate laws or others’ rights (including privacy, publicity, IP, or recording laws).
• Upload/share unlawful, harmful, deceptive, defamatory, harassing, hateful, exploitative, or obscene content.
• Attempt to decompile, reverse engineer, or otherwise access source code.
• Circumvent security, probe or scan systems, or disrupt/overload the Services.
• Use bots/scrapers to extract data at scale or copy significant portions of content.
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation, or impersonate others.
• Upload content you lack rights/consents to provide (e.g., recording non-consenting participants).

We may suspend or terminate accounts for violations (Section 12).

6A) Calls with other people: safety, blocking & reporting

Some projects pair you with another adult contributor for a recorded conversation. Spout chooses the pairing; the Services are not a social network, a dating service, or an open or anonymous chat service, and there is no way to browse for or select a specific person to call.

On any call with another contributor, you must not:

• Harass, threaten, demean, or abuse the other participant, or use hate speech.
• Introduce sexual or sexually explicit content, or solicit anyone sexually.
• Discuss or depict the sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor, or attempt to involve a minor in a call. We report suspected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and to law enforcement.
• Share your own or the other participant’s contact details, financial details, or other sensitive personal information, or attempt to contact the other participant outside Spout.
• Advertise, solicit, recruit, promote a business, or run a scheme of any kind.
• Impersonate anyone, or play back recorded, synthetic, or generated audio as if it were your own live voice.

Blocking. During any call, and afterward from Account, you can block the other participant. Blocking is immediate and permanent unless you undo it: we will not pair you with that person again on any project. You do not need to give a reason, and we do not tell the person that you blocked them.

Reporting. You can report a participant from the same controls. Reports go to our review team and we investigate them. Where we find a violation, we may remove the recording from our active systems and exclude it from future dataset releases, warn, restrict, suspend, or permanently ban the account, and withhold payment for the reported work under Section 7B. We may also act on conduct we detect ourselves, without a report.

If you believe someone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. You can also reach us at hello@withspout.com.

7) Fees, trials & changes

We may offer free or paid tiers, trials, or credits. Prices, features, and limits may change with notice where required. If you subscribe, you authorize us (and our payment processors) to charge the applicable fees and taxes. You’re responsible for carrier data charges (including SMS/text message rates) and hardware/software needed to use the Services.

This Section covers amounts you may pay us. Contributing to Spout is free, and money we pay you for approved contributor work is covered separately in Section 7B.

7A) SMS/Text notifications

By providing your phone number, you consent to receive transactional and service-related SMS/text messages from Spout, including notifications about project availability, submission status, payout updates, and other platform activity. These messages are informational, not marketing.

• Message frequency varies based on your activity and platform updates.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• You can opt out of SMS notifications at any time by replying STOP to any message or updating your notification preferences in your account settings.
• Reply HELP to any message for support, or contact hello@withspout.com.

Opting out of SMS notifications does not affect other communications (e.g., email) or your ability to use the Services.

7B) Contributor payments & earnings

This Section governs money we pay you. Spout is free to download and use, contains no purchases, and never charges you to work: we will never ask you to pay a fee, buy equipment from us, or deposit money in order to start, unlock, or receive work or payment. Anyone asking you to do so is not us.

Rates and how you earn

Each project shows its pay rate in-product before you begin, together with the unit it is paid on (for example, per approved recording, per approved review, or per qualifying conversation). We may change rates for future work. A rate change never reduces the amount owed for work you have already had approved. Any minimum balance required before a payout can be sent, and the payout schedule, are shown in-product.

Approval, not submission, earns pay

Submitting work does not by itself entitle you to payment. Work must be reviewed and approved against the quality standard for that project, which we describe in-product before you start. Approved work is paid at the rate that applied when you did the work. Amounts shown in the app before approval are estimates of what you may earn, not a balance owed to you.

Rejected work

We may reject work, and rejected work is not paid. Typical grounds include work that is:

• Inaudible, silent, truncated, heavily distorted, or otherwise unusable.
• In a language other than the one the project asked for, or does not follow the script or prompt.
• Padded, duplicated, or artificially lengthened to increase pay.
• Not your own live voice, including recorded playback, synthetic or generated speech, and another person speaking in your place.
• In breach of these Terms, including Sections 4, 6, and 6A.

We do not license recordings that we rejected because they were not your own live voice, were manipulated or artificially generated, or broke these Terms. If you think work was rejected in error, email hello@withspout.com within 30 days of the rejection and we will review it. We aim to respond within 30 days.

How payouts are made

We pay through a third-party payment processor. You must complete that processor’s onboarding, identity, and payout-method requirements before we can pay you, and your payouts are also subject to the processor’s own terms, limits, timing, and fees. Once we transfer an approved amount to the processor using the payout details you provided, we have met our payment obligation to you for that amount. We are not responsible for delays, fees, currency conversion, or failures caused by the processor, your bank, or payout details you entered incorrectly.

Independent contractor status

You participate as an independent contractor, not as an employee, partner, or agent of Spout. Nothing here creates an employment relationship. You decide whether, when, and how much to work, you supply your own device and internet connection, and you are not entitled to employee benefits. We do not guarantee that any amount of work will be available to you, and we may change, pause, or close a project at any time.

Taxes

You are solely responsible for reporting and paying any taxes on what you earn. We may require valid tax documentation (for example, a Form W-9 or W-8BEN) before we pay you, may withhold amounts where the law requires, and may issue tax forms such as a Form 1099 where applicable. If you do not provide required tax documentation, we may hold payment until you do.

Fraud, abuse & withheld payment

We may withhold, reverse, or recover payment, and suspend or close your account, where we reasonably determine there has been fraud, misrepresentation of your identity or eligibility, more than one account operated by or for the same person, automation or scripted submission, collusion, deliberate circumvention of project limits or quality checks, or a serious breach of Section 6A. Where we withhold payment on these grounds we will tell you why, and you may dispute it as described above.

Unclaimed earnings

If you never complete payout setup, or an approved balance stays unclaimed, we will hold it and try to reach you at your account email. We do not expire or forfeit earnings you have already had approved. Long-unclaimed balances are handled under applicable unclaimed-property law. Ending your participation or closing your account does not forfeit amounts already approved before you left.

8) Third-party services

The Services may link to or interoperate with third-party sites, software, or services. We’re not responsible for third-party content, products, terms, or policies. Your use of them is at your option and subject to their terms.

9) Feedback

If you send ideas, suggestions, or improvements (“Feedback”), you grant us a free, perpetual, irrevocable license to use the Feedback without restriction or compensation.

10) DMCA & copyright policy

We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement consistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §512).

To report infringement, email hello@withspout.com with: (a) your physical/electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work; (c) identification of the material and its location on the Services; (d) your contact information; (e) a good-faith statement of unauthorized use; and (f) a statement under penalty of perjury of accuracy and authority to act. We may remove the material and, for repeat infringements, terminate accounts. To submit a counter-notice, send a signed statement with required details; on valid counter-notice we may restore content after 10 business days unless we receive notice of court action.

11) Privacy

See our Privacy Policy (incorporated by reference) for how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information, including recordings and licensing to customers.

12) Termination & suspension

You may stop using the Services any time. We may suspend or terminate access, remove content, and/or disable accounts at our discretion (e.g., for violations, risk, non-payment, unlawful conduct, or to protect users/services). Upon termination, Sections that by their nature should survive (including 3–6, 6A, 7B, 8–16) survive, so earnings already approved before you left remain payable under Section 7B.

13) Changes to the Services or these Terms

We update and improve continuously. We may modify or discontinue features and update these Terms. If we make material changes, we’ll provide notice (e.g., by posting, email, or in-product). If you continue using the Services after changes take effect, you accept the updated Terms.

14) Dispute resolution, arbitration & opt-out

Please read carefully—this affects your rights.

• Arbitration. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services that cannot be resolved informally will be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules.
• Venue & law. The seat of arbitration is San Francisco, California. One arbitrator. The arbitrator may award individual relief permitted by law.
• Class/representative actions. No class actions or class arbitrations. You and Spout may bring claims only in your or its individual capacity.
• Small-claims court. Either party may bring an eligible claim in small-claims court in San Francisco County, California (or your U.S. county of residence).
• Injunctive relief for IP/security. Either party may seek temporary or preliminary relief in court to protect IP or security pending arbitration.
• Opt-out. You may opt out of arbitration/class-action waiver within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by emailing hello@withspout.com with subject “Arbitration Opt-Out,” your full name, account email, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out.
• Costs. AAA rules govern allocation of fees; we will consider reasonable requests to cover filing fees for non-frivolous claims.
• Coordinated filings. If 25 or more arbitration demands raising similar claims are filed against Spout with the assistance of the same or coordinated counsel, you and Spout agree that the AAA’s rules and fee schedules for multiple consumer case filings will apply, and that the demands may be batched or staged for efficient resolution.

This Section remains in force even after these Terms end.

15) Disclaimers

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND NON-INTERFERENCE. We do not guarantee the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, error-free, or that content (including models trained using licensed data) will meet your requirements.

16) Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER SPOUT NOR ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, OR PARTNERS WILL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUES, GOODWILL, DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS IN THE AGGREGATE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) $100 OR (B) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO US FOR THE SERVICES IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY. Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain limitations; in those cases, liability is limited to the maximum permitted by law.

17) Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Spout and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: your use of the Services; your User Content (including recording others without proper notice or consent); your breach of any representation or warranty in Section 4; your violation of these Terms or applicable law; or your violation of any third party's rights, including privacy, publicity, or intellectual property rights.

18) Export, sanctions & safety

You represent that you are not located in, under control of, or a national/resident of any country or entity subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions and are not on any U.S. government denied-party list. You agree to comply with U.S. export and sanctions laws and not to use the Services for prohibited purposes.

19) Government use

If you are a U.S. Government end user, the Services and documentation are “commercial items” provided with only those rights detailed in these Terms (FAR 12.211/12.212 or DFARS 227.7202).

20) Beta features & changes

We may offer beta, preview, or experimental features. They may be subject to additional terms, may change, and may be discontinued at any time. Use is at your own risk.

21) Mobile apps / app stores (if applicable)

If you access via Apple App Store or Google Play, you acknowledge that: (i) these Terms are between you and Spout only; (ii) the store providers have no responsibility for the app; (iii) your use must comply with the store’s terms; and (iv) the store providers are third-party beneficiaries of this Section.

22) Miscellaneous

• Governing law & venue: California law (without regard to conflicts) governs these Terms, except for the arbitration clause, which is governed by the FAA. Subject to Section 14, courts in San Francisco County, California have exclusive jurisdiction.
• Entire agreement: These Terms (plus incorporated policies) are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Services.
• Severability: If any provision is unenforceable, it’s severed and the rest remains in effect.
• No waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver.
• Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign.
• Notices: We may notify you by email, SMS/text message, in-product, or posting on the site. You consent to electronic communications, including SMS/text messages to the phone number associated with your account.

23) Contact

Panels Research, Inc. (d/b/a “Spout”)
2261 Market Street, STE 85337, San Francisco, CA 94114 USA
Email: hello@withspout.com