Elute

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 October 2026

Elute AI is a research tool built to help students find and understand scientific papers. This page explains what information is collected and how it is handled.

What Elute collects

An anonymous ID. When you first visit, Elute's server creates a random ID for your browser and signs it to prevent forgery. Your browser retains it in local storage. The ID keeps your saved work separate from that of other users and is not linked to your name or school. If you provide an email address, it is stored alongside this ID.

Your searches, your questions, the papers Elute returns, the answers it generates, any simplified versions you request, and anything you save (citations, notebooks, chat titles) are stored so that they remain available when you return. Elute also keeps a usage record for each question you ask, tied to your anonymous ID and containing no question text (the time of the request, which chat it belonged to, the type of request, and the amount of AI processing used), in order to control costs. Chats and notebooks are retained until you delete them or ask us to do so; nothing expires automatically.

Your email only if you registered one. It raises your daily limit from 5 to 15. It is stored with your anonymous ID, and one welcome email is sent when you register. You may unsubscribe at any time: doing so stops all email but retains your higher limit, and the address is kept on file so that your opt-out is recorded.

What Elute does not collect

No names. No passwords. No accounts. No payment information. No tracking across other websites. The anonymous ID keeps your work separate from that of other users. Your searches are stored so that you can return to them. Your email, if provided, is used only to raise your search limit and to send one welcome email upon registration; it is not used for any other purpose, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

Analytics

Elute uses analytics to understand how the site is used in aggregate. None of it uses cookies, and none of it collects information that identifies you personally.

The retention period for analytics data is configured within the analytics tools themselves, not in Elute's own database. These tools are not linked to your anonymous ID, your searches, or your email.

Other services

Elute AI is built on external services, and your searches pass through some of them, such as the research databases it searches, the AI provider that writes the answers, and the services that host the site and its feedback forms. If you provide an email address, it is shared only with the service that delivers the welcome email.

Deleting your data

You may delete any chat from the sidebar, which removes its messages and saved citations. The per-question usage records (with no question text) are retained. If you provided an email address, write to admin@eluteai.app from that address and your data will be deleted. Without an email address, Elute cannot determine which chats are yours, so you would need to delete them yourself. Please note that clearing your browser's site data removes your ID from your browser but does not remove your chats from our servers.

Cookies

Elute does not use tracking or advertising cookies. It uses your browser's local storage to remember your anonymous ID, which allows it to function without an account, along with a few small settings: your theme, which chat you had open, and whether you have seen the tour, the feedback prompt and the first-visit pointer (plus a count of your searches, which determines when the feedback prompt appears).

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top of the page will be updated accordingly.

Contact

Questions about any of this may be sent to admin@eluteai.app

Elute AI is an independent project developed by a high school student, not a company.