Privacy Policy — AI Research Assistant
Last updated: June 23, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains what information the AI Research Assistant browser extension (“the Extension”, “we”, “us”) collects, how it is used, and the choices you have. By installing and using the Extension you agree to the practices described here.
1. Who we are
The Extension is provided by Abhiraj Kale. For any privacy questions or requests, contact us at abhirajk@uci.edu.
2. What the Extension does
The Extension is an AI research assistant that runs in the browser side panel. It offers two functions:
- Research a topic — you type a topic, and the Extension requests an AI‑generated research report. To produce it, the topic is used to search the web.
- Summarize this page — when you click the button, the Extension reads the text of the page you are currently viewing and requests an AI‑generated summary.
In both cases the Extension generates a report and downloads it to your device as a PDF. The PDF is created locally on your device; the file itself is not uploaded anywhere.
3. Information we collect and process
The Extension only processes data you actively provide by using one of the two functions above:
| Data | When it is collected | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Research topic / query text | When you type a topic and start research | To research the topic and generate a report |
| Active web page content | Only when you click “Summarize This Page” — the visible text of the current tab (up to the first 8,000 characters) and the tab’s title | To generate a summary of that page |
The Extension does not collect:
- Your name, email address, or account credentials (the Extension has no login).
- Browsing history, or the content of pages you did not explicitly ask to summarize.
- Cookies, advertising identifiers, or analytics/telemetry.
- Keystrokes, form data, passwords, or financial information.
The Extension does not use Chrome storage and does not persist your data
locally between sessions.
4. How your data is processed and shared
When you use either function, the relevant text (your topic, or the page content you chose
to summarize) is sent over an encrypted HTTPS connection to our backend service at
https://agentic-research-assistant-yoh8.onrender.com for the sole purpose of
generating the report you requested. Our backend is hosted on Render
(render.com).
To produce the report, our backend submits that text to third‑party AI and search providers:
- Google (Gemini API) — AI language model used to analyze and write the report.
- Mistral AI and Groq (Llama models) — additional AI language model providers used as automatic fallbacks if the primary model is unavailable.
- Tavily — a web‑search API used only for topic research (not for page summarization) to find relevant sources for your topic.
Each of these providers processes the submitted text under its own privacy and data‑use terms. We do not sell or rent your data, use it for advertising or to build user profiles, or share it with any party other than the service providers listed above, except as required by law.
5. Data retention
We do not save the text you submit to a database or any persistent storage. It is held in memory only for the time needed to generate your report, and is discarded when the request completes. Our server may record technical error messages in operational logs for debugging, which can incidentally include short fragments of a failed request; these logs are not used for any other purpose.
The third‑party AI and search providers listed in Section 4 receive the submitted text and retain it according to their own policies, over which we have no control.
6. Permissions and why we request them
| Permission | Reason |
|---|---|
sidePanel | To display the Extension’s interface in the browser side panel. |
activeTab + scripting | To read the text of the current tab only when you click “Summarize This Page.” No script runs on, and no content is read from, pages you do not ask to summarize. |
Host access to agentic-research-assistant-yoh8.onrender.com |
To send your request to, and receive the report from, our backend service. |
The Extension does not request access to all websites and does not read page content in the background.
7. Your choices and rights
- You control when any data leaves your device — nothing is sent unless you start a research task or click “Summarize This Page.”
- You can stop all data processing at any time by removing the Extension from
chrome://extensions. - To ask questions about, or request deletion of, any data associated with you, contact us at abhirajk@uci.edu.
8. Children’s privacy
The Extension is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from children.
9. Security
Data in transit between the Extension, our backend, and our AI provider(s) is protected using HTTPS/TLS. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, the Extension’s store listing.
11. Limited Use disclosure (Chrome Web Store)
Our use of information received from the Extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We only use the data you submit to provide the user‑facing feature that requested it, and we do not transfer or use it for any unrelated purpose, for advertising, for creditworthiness, or for sale.
12. Contact
Abhiraj Kale
Email: abhirajk@uci.edu
© 2026 Abhiraj Kale · AI Research Assistant