Risk Score
0 = very fair · 100 = very risky
Summary
This is a SaaS Terms of Service for Stability AI's generative AI products (Brand Studio, Stable Audio, Stable Assistant, etc.), effective July 31, 2025. The document is moderately one-sided in favor of Stability AI, containing mandatory arbitration with a class action waiver, broad indemnification obligations on the user, non-refundable payments, and the ability to terminate accounts without advance notice. On the positive side, users retain ownership of their Inputs and are assigned rights to their Outputs, and an opt-out mechanism for arbitration is provided. Overall, the terms reflect aggressive but not unusual practices for the AI SaaS industry, with several clauses that meaningfully limit user recourse.
Flagged Clauses
If you have a dispute with Stability AI (US/Canada users), you cannot sue them in regular court or join a class action lawsuit. Disputes go to a private arbitrator instead, which typically favors larger companies and limits your ability to band together with other affected users.
“YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND STABILITY WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION.”
There is an opt-out window for arbitration, but you must act within 30 days of creating your account or of any term update. Missing this window means you are permanently bound to arbitration.
“You may opt-out and not be bound by the arbitration and class action waiver provisions by emailing a written notice of your decision to opt-out to legal@stability.ai. The notice must be sent within 30 days of account creation or within 30 days of any updates to these arbitration terms.”
Even in cases that do end up in court (such as disputes about the class action waiver), neither party can request a jury trial. This eliminates a fundamental legal right.
“We both irrevocably waive any right to trial by jury in any action or proceeding.”
Stability AI can cut off your access and keep any subscription fees you have paid, without warning, if they believe you violated the terms. You have no guaranteed right to a refund in this situation.
“We may also suspend or terminate your access to our Services (including any subscriptions) at any time without advance notice, particularly if we believe that you have breached these Terms... If we terminate your access to our Services due to a violation of these Terms and you have a subscription, you will not be entitled to any refund.”
If your account is terminated or becomes inactive, Stability AI may permanently delete all content you created or uploaded through their service. There is no guaranteed notice or grace period to retrieve your data.
“We may also delete any Inputs, Outputs, or other data associated with your account.”
If you do not use your account for more than 12 months, Stability AI can close it and potentially delete your data, even if you have unused paid credits.
“We may also terminate your account if you have been inactive for over a year.”
Once you pay for a subscription or service, you generally cannot get a refund, even if you are unsatisfied with the service or it changes significantly after purchase.
“All payments are non-refundable, except where required by law.”
Prepaid credits cannot be converted back to cash, expire after one year, and are non-refundable. If your account is terminated, you lose any remaining credits with no compensation.
“Service credits are not currency and are not redeemable for money or any sum of monetary value. Service credits are non-refundable... Unused service credits (that were issued on or after the effective date of these Terms) expire one year after the date of purchase or issuance.”
Stability AI can cancel your prepaid credit balance (with some legal constraints). This means money you have already paid could effectively be forfeited.
“We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your service credit balance, in compliance with applicable law.”
Subscriptions automatically renew and charge your payment method on a recurring basis. You must actively cancel to stop being charged.
“If you sign up for a paid subscription, we will automatically charge your payment method on each agreed-upon periodic renewal date until you cancel.”
Stability AI can change the terms whenever they want. Simply continuing to use the service after receiving notice (which may just be a website posting) counts as your agreement to the new terms.
“We may update these Terms at our discretion, including to reflect changes in our Services, for security or legal reasons, or to prevent abuse. We will provide notice of updates in accordance with applicable law. If you continue to access our Services after we provide such notice, then you agree to the updated Terms.”
Features you rely on can be changed or removed at any time without warning, and Stability AI is not responsible for any impact that has on your work or business.
“We may periodically update our Services, including add or remove features or Services, without advance notice... we reserve the right to modify or discontinue our Services in our discretion and without advance notice. We will not be liable for any changes to our Services.”
You agree to pay Stability AI's legal costs and any damages if a third party sues them because of something you did with the service, including outputs the AI generated based on your prompts. This is a broad obligation that could be expensive.
“YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND, AND HOLD THE STABILITY PARTIES HARMLESS AGAINST ANY LIABILITIES, DAMAGES, AND COSTS (INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO: (A) YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES; (B) ANY BREACH OR VIOLATION OF THESE TERMS... (D) INPUTS, OUTPUTS, OR OTHER DATA PROVIDED OR GENERATED BY YOU.”
Even if Stability AI causes you significant harm, their financial liability to you is capped at $100 or six months of fees paid — whichever is greater. This could be a very small amount relative to actual damages.
“THE STABILITY PARTIES' TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES... WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR ACCESSING OUR SERVICES IN THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE DATE SUCH DAMAGES... FIRST AROSE.”
Stability AI makes no guarantees that their service will work as expected, that outputs will be accurate, or that your data will be safe. All risk of use is placed on the user.
“OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS'... WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, ACCURACY... WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY INPUT OR OUTPUT WILL BE SECURE OR NOT LOST OR ALTERED.”
If you share a custom AI model (LoRA) on Brand Studio, you grant both Stability AI and other users permanent, irrevocable, royalty-free rights to use it and build on it. You cannot revoke these rights once granted.
“If you choose to share your LoRA, you grant to Stability a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to host, use, reproduce, and make available to others on the Services; and you grant to users of your model a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, store, and create derivative works from your LoRA.”
Even though you granted irrevocable rights to others for your shared LoRA, Stability AI can remove it from their platform at any time without warning or explanation.
“Stability may remove your LoRA from Brand Studio at any time, for any reason, without notice.”
Whatever you type or upload as a prompt — including any personal information — may be sent to third-party services that Stability AI uses. The document does not specify which third parties or what data protections apply.
“By using our Services, you acknowledge that your Input, including any personal data you include within that Input, may be shared with such third-party service to enable functionality.”
By default, your inputs and AI-generated outputs may be used to train Stability AI's models. You can opt out, but you must actively do so — the default is participation.
“We may use Inputs and Outputs to improve and develop our Services (but you can opt-out to prevent us from using your Inputs and Outputs to train our models).”
If you sign up with a work email, your employer may have access to everything you generate or upload, including prompts and AI outputs.
“If you use an email address owned by your employer or another organization, your account may be linked to the organization's enterprise account. The organization's administrator may be able to monitor and control the account, including viewing your Inputs and Outputs.”
You retain ownership of what you put in, and Stability AI assigns any rights they have in the generated outputs back to you. However, this is qualified by 'to the extent permitted by applicable law,' which may limit rights in some jurisdictions.
“As between you and Stability, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, you retain your ownership right in the Inputs that you submit. Subject to your compliance with our Terms, we assign to you all of our right, title, and interest (if any) in the Outputs.”
Missing Protections
- No explicit data deletion or portability rights described in the Terms (referenced Privacy Policy not analyzed)
- No guaranteed notice period before account termination for non-violation cases
- No explicit grace period or data export window after account termination
- No Service Level Agreement (SLA) or uptime guarantee
- No explicit commitment about how long 'advance notice' for fee increases will be
- No COPPA-specific protections mentioned beyond age minimum (Privacy Policy not analyzed)
- No clearly defined dispute escalation path for users outside the US and Canada before arbitration
- No explicit data breach notification commitment in the Terms
- No price lock guarantee for subscription periods already paid
- No clear process described for appealing a content takedown or account suspension before it takes effect
Fair Terms
- Users retain ownership of their Inputs and are assigned ownership of AI-generated Outputs (Section 4a) — more user-friendly than many AI platforms
- An explicit arbitration opt-out mechanism exists via email within 30 days, which is more than many services offer (Section 13b)
- Subscription cancellation is described as available 'at any time' with a direct link provided (Section 7c)
- Informal dispute resolution (60-day negotiation period) is required before arbitration can begin, providing a lower-cost option first (Section 13c)
- The minimum age requirement is set at 18 or higher, providing a clear and protective threshold (Section 2a)
- Users can opt out of having their Inputs and Outputs used for model training (Section 4c)
- Small claims court is explicitly excluded from mandatory arbitration, preserving an accessible legal avenue for smaller disputes (Section 13f)
Document information only — not legal advice.