Roots We Planted
Answers to Common Questions
Everything you need to know before getting started. Can't find what you're looking for? Contact us directly.
Privacy & Data Ownership
- You do — completely and unconditionally. We are custodians, not owners. You can export or delete everything at any time, and we will never claim any rights over your materials.
- Never. We do not sell, share, or monetize your personal data or family materials in any way. Our business model is subscription-based — your data is not our product.
- All uploads are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256) using Azure Blob Storage. Access is protected by authentication and role-based permissions.
- Only you and the family members you explicitly invite. Archives are private by default. Nothing is public unless you choose to share a specific link.
- No. Your family's materials are never used to train any AI models — ours or third parties'. AI processing is applied to your data temporarily to generate outputs, then discarded.
AI & Technology
- When you upload materials, our pipeline runs them through multiple AI stages: transcription (audio/video), OCR (documents), natural language processing (meaning extraction), research enrichment (historical context), and narrative generation. Each stage produces outputs you can review and edit.
- Absolutely. All AI-generated content — transcriptions, narratives, timelines, chapter structures — is fully editable. The AI provides a starting point; you and your family shape the final story.
- We use a combination of OpenAI (GPT-4), Anthropic (Claude), ElevenLabs (voice synthesis), HeyGen (portrait animation), and Pika (video generation). All processing follows our strict privacy policies.
- AI outputs are always presented as drafts for human review. We include confidence scores and flag uncertain transcriptions. You have full control to correct, override, or discard any generated content.
Uploads, Formats & Storage
- We support JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, and WebP for photos; MP4, MOV, AVI, and MKV for video; MP3, WAV, M4A, and FLAC for audio; PDF, DOCX, TXT, and RTF for documents; and ZIP archives for bulk uploads.
- Individual file uploads are limited to 500 MB. For video files larger than that, we recommend compressing to H.264/MP4 before uploading. Bulk ZIP imports support up to 2 GB.
- Your archive remains safely stored. All one-time project deliverables (book, media, restored photos, etc.) never expire and remain accessible. However, ongoing Family Chronicle features — such as continuous updates, new uploads, and future AI enhancements — pause until you reactivate your subscription.
- Yes. You can upload and organize materials on behalf of any family member. You can also invite them with view-only access so they can explore the archive without being able to edit it.
- All service tiers include enough storage for the full set of materials we need to produce your book — there is no hard per-project cap. The Family Chronicle subscription includes continuous archive updates so storage grows with you year over year.
- Yes. You can export any project or your entire archive as a ZIP at any time. Exports include all original files, AI-generated content, and metadata in open formats.
Accuracy, Sensitivity & Voice
- We tag it as "unverified" — both in our internal notes and, where it appears in the book, with a small acknowledgement. We'd rather be honest about a gap than invent something fluent and wrong.
- No. Our three-layer accuracy protocol (AI inference → editorial review → your clarification) is built specifically to avoid this. We tell stories that are true — even if that means telling you we don't know.
- Only with your explicit consent and a recording you own. By default we use a curated narrator voice from our library. Every animated portrait discloses which voice profile was used. See our voice ethics page for the full policy.
- During intake we ask you about boundaries and sensitivities — topics to handle gently, topics to omit entirely, audience considerations (children reading the book, estranged relatives). Our editors apply that guidance during the Editing & Sensitivity Review stage. Your boundaries are honored.
- Your book is reviewed by our internal editorial team using a combination of AI-assisted editing and human quality checks. While we do not employ genealogists, our editors ensure clarity, consistency, and narrative flow before your book is delivered.
- Every tier includes revision rounds — 1 for Starter, 2 for Standard, 3 for Premium plus concierge support. You can change anything: tone, scope, included people, sensitive sections. We'd rather get it right than rush.
- Starter projects typically run 6–10 weeks; Standard 12–20 weeks; Premium 6–9 months. We share a custom timeline after the free consultation — it depends on the volume of materials and the scope of research.
Contributing to a Family Project
- A relative has invited you to help build part of their family tree. You add the branch you know best; the owner reviews additions before they join the shared tree (unless they've set you as a trusted contributor, in which case your additions go live right away). It's a take-your-time task, and your contributions always stay with the family.Read the full contributor guide →
Still have questions?
We're happy to talk. Reach out and a human will respond within one business day.