What happens if a conversation turns serious

This page describes how Sidra responds when something you say raises a safety concern. It applies to everyone, on every plan, at every point in a conversation. You don't need an account to read it.

You're always talking to an AI

Sidra is an AI briefing system. It isn't a person, and it isn't a licensed therapist, counsellor, doctor or psychiatrist. Sidra tells you this when a conversation starts, and again every few hours if you keep talking.

Every message is read by a safety screen first

Before Sidra writes anything back — before any reply is generated, and whatever plan you're on — what you sent is checked for signs that you may be in trouble. That check runs first, and it can't be switched off, skipped, or paid past.

It looks for a few things: thoughts of suicide or self-harm; being hurt by someone, or afraid of someone; an older person at risk; cruelty to an animal; being in immediate danger; and a stated intention to seriously hurt another person.

If you talk about suicide or self-harm

• You're given the numbers above straight away. That can't be turned off, hidden, or dismissed before you have seen it, and it happens on the free plan exactly as it does on a paid one.
• The conversation stays open. Sidra doesn't cut you off at a message limit, doesn't meter the exchange, and doesn't show you a price.
• What you said isn't stored. Sidra keeps a note that the screen fired, on what date, and which category — never your words, on our servers or in your browser.
• What Sidra said back is kept, the same as every other reply. Every reply Sidra gives is kept for 30 days so a person can check it, then archived for six months, then deleted — and that includes its replies in a hard moment, which are the ones most worth a person checking. They're encrypted, and reviewers see a reader code, not your name. Sidra's reply can repeat something you said.

If you say you intend to seriously hurt someone

This one is different, and the difference is stated plainly because it's the one exception to everything above.

• The conversation stops.
• That message is kept, encrypted, along with a short window of the conversation around it. A person can't judge a threat they aren't permitted to read.
• Your account is locked.
• It goes into a queue for a human being to read.

Nothing is reported to the police or to anyone else automatically. A person reads it and decides what should happen, including whether to report it at all. Only a person can unlock an account, and only a person can decide the screen was wrong.

What Sidra will never do

• Claim to be a therapist, counsellor, doctor, or any other licensed professional.
• Give medical, legal, financial or psychological advice.
• Say it will contact anyone on your behalf. It can't, and saying otherwise to someone deciding whether to trust it would be a lie.
• Ask you questions to find out more. Nobody disclosing something difficult is going to be taken through a form.
• Use anything from one of these conversations for anything except answering it.