Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern access to and use of ASKCECOS, a software-as-a-service platform operated by the Center for Digital Governance and Agentic Innovation (“CDGAI”), a center of CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, F-5, Phase 6, Hayatabad, Peshawar, KP, Pakistan. By signing an Order Form or activating access to ASKCECOS, the institution (“Customer”) agrees to these Terms on behalf of itself and its authorised users.

The Customer may use ASKCECOS solely to operate an AI-powered WhatsApp helpdesk for its registered students and staff. The Customer may not:

• Resell, sublicense, or otherwise transfer access to ASKCECOS to third parties.
• Use ASKCECOS to generate, deliver, or facilitate content that violates Pakistani law, including PECA 2016, or Meta's WhatsApp Business Policy.
• Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or extract training data, embeddings, or model weights from the platform.
• Use ASKCECOS to send unsolicited bulk messages, spam, or promotional content that users have not opted in to receive.
• Use ASKCECOS for non-institutional purposes (e.g., commercial lead generation).

ASKCECOS operates over Meta's WhatsApp Business API. By using ASKCECOS, the Customer agrees to comply with Meta's WhatsApp Business Policy and WhatsApp Business Solution Terms as they apply to the Customer's use of the messaging channel. In particular:

• The Customer is responsible for obtaining valid opt-in consent from students and staff before messaging them via ASKCECOS.
• The Customer must maintain an accurate WhatsApp Business profile with valid contact information.
• Message content must not include prohibited categories (firearms, controlled substances, adult content, financial fraud instruments, etc.).

CDGAI and its licensors retain all intellectual property rights in ASKCECOS, including the platform software, AI pipeline, confidence-scoring system, and admin panel. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of any IP to the Customer.

The Customer retains all rights to its own knowledge base content, student data, and institutional documents uploaded to ASKCECOS. CDGAI is granted a limited licence to process that content solely to provide the service.

Fees are set out in the Order Form. Unless stated otherwise, fees are invoiced annually in advance and are non-refundable. All amounts are in Pakistani Rupees (PKR) unless agreed otherwise in writing. CDGAI reserves the right to suspend access if invoices remain unpaid for more than 30 days after the due date.

ASKCECOS targets 99.9% monthly uptime for the AI response engine and admin panel, measured against the public Status page at askcecos.com/status. Planned maintenance windows and upstream WhatsApp Business API outages are excluded from uptime calculations. Service credits for missed SLA targets are detailed in the Order Form.

CDGAI processes personal data on behalf of the Customer as described in the Data Processing Agreement (DPA), which forms part of these Terms. The Customer, as data controller, is responsible for ensuring a lawful basis for processing student and staff data and for informing data subjects that an AI assistant operates on the institution's WhatsApp Business number.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, CDGAI's aggregate liability under these Terms shall not exceed the total fees paid by the Customer in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.

CDGAI is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of data, loss of revenue, or reputational harm, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

CDGAI is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or currency of knowledge base content uploaded by the Customer. The Customer is responsible for ensuring its own FAQs, policies, and documents are accurate before publishing them to the AI system.

Either party may terminate these Terms on 30 days' written notice. CDGAI may terminate immediately for material breach, including non-payment, violation of the WhatsApp Business Policy, or misuse of the platform. Upon termination, Customer data will be returned or deleted within 30 days as described in the DPA.

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the civil courts of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Questions about these Terms? Contact cdgai@cecos.edu.pk · CDGAI, CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, F-5, Phase 6, Hayatabad, Peshawar, KP — Pakistan.