Pollyfriends
I want my friends

Safety and crisis

What Pollyfriends does when a conversation shows signs of risk, and where to find real help.

DRAFT FOR LEGAL REVIEW (rascunho para revisão jurídica). Do not publish before a lawyer reviews it. Items in brackets still need to be filled in.

Version [VERSÃO], effective [DATA DE VIGÊNCIA].

Pollyfriends is a language app where you chat with friends created by artificial intelligence. They are not people, they are not therapists and they do not replace professional help. Even so, a conversation can reach a hard moment. This public protocol explains what the app does when someone shows signs that they might hurt themselves or take their own life.

If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number.

  • United States: 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text).
  • Brazil: CVV, 188 (free call, 24 hours).
  • European Union: 112, or your country's support line.
  • Other countries: [LISTA DE NÚMEROS POR PAÍS].

1. How the app notices the signs

Three automatic layers check every message, without a person having to read the conversation:

  1. Input filter. A moderation system analyzes the text you write, the transcripts of your voice messages and calls, and the photos you send, looking for signs of suicide, self-harm and despair.
  2. Signal in the reply. The system that generates the character's reply also assesses the conversation and flags a possible crisis.
  3. Output filter. The character's reply goes through a second filter before it reaches you, so that nothing inappropriate is sent.

Before each version of the app goes live, we test these filters with a set of crisis cases we prepared. Those cases must pass with no failures.

No automatic filter is perfect. It may miss a sign or flag a conversation that was not a crisis. That is why the help numbers in this protocol are also available at [LOCAL FIXO NO APP ONDE O NÚMERO FICA SEMPRE VISÍVEL].

2. What happens when a sign appears

  1. The character sets the story aside and offers support. They stop talking about their own life, reply calmly and simply, in the language you used, and point you to real help. At that moment there is no language correction and no lesson.
  2. The app shows its own card, outside the character's conversation, with help services: 988 in the United States, CVV 188 in Brazil, 112 or the national number in the European Union, and the list for the country where you live. The card appears once per episode.
  3. During calls, the call is not cut off, because hanging up on someone in a hard moment can make things worse. The card with the numbers appears on top of the screen.
  4. Characters stop messaging first and stop calling for 12 hours, so that no friend sends a joke or an invitation right afterwards. If you write, the character replies as usual, with care.
  5. The app records that the protocol was triggered, as explained in section 4.

3. What never happens

  • The character never encourages, teaches or describes ways to self-harm.
  • The character never claims to be a real person and never presents itself as a therapist, doctor or emergency service.
  • The app never promises that someone will call you or come to you. We do not have an on-call team and we do not contact emergency services on our own.
  • The app never notifies your family, your contacts or your employer.
  • Your conversation is never used in advertising or shown to other users.

4. How we count alerts without personal data

California law (SB 243) and New York law (General Business Law, Art. 47) require AI companion apps to have this protocol, and California requires an annual report about it.

  • Each time the protocol is triggered, the system records an internal safety event. That event is linked to the account only for safety review and as evidence that the protocol worked, and it follows the retention period in the Privacy Policy.
  • The public report and the report to authorities contain only aggregate numbers (for example, how many times the help card was shown in the year). They contain no name, email, phone number, message text, audio or any data that identifies anyone.
  • [CONFERIR: the California agency that receives the report, its format and the filing date, starting 07/01/2027.]

5. Reviewing this protocol

We review this protocol [PERIODICIDADE DE REVISÃO] and whenever the law changes or a real case shows something to improve. The current version is published at [ENDEREÇO DA PÁGINA DO PROTOCOLO].

6. Contact

Questions about this protocol: [E-MAIL DE SUPORTE] [RAZÃO SOCIAL], CNPJ [CNPJ], [ENDEREÇO]