Trust center

AI Safety and Upload Privacy

What Bird Lens's identification tools process, what they can get wrong, and how users should handle bird photos, recordings, and location details safely.

Upload guidancePrivacy expectationsHuman judgment

Last reviewed: June 21, 2026

What Upload Tools Do

Website Photo Bird ID and Sound Bird ID accept a bird photo or audio recording you choose to upload. Uploads are processed to return likely species candidates and supporting identification clues. Field-notes and similar-species tools use typed notes instead of media.

  • Photo Bird ID compares visible field marks, shape, posture, habitat, range, and image quality.
  • Sound Bird ID compares phrase structure, pitch, rhythm, repetition, habitat, and range.
  • Results should include likely candidates rather than unsupported certainty.
  • Uploads may be processed with supporting metadata needed for analysis, reliability, and abuse prevention.

Upload Privacy Expectations

If an app feature accepts uploaded bird photos or recordings, those files are processed to generate a result. We do not sell them, publish observation locations, or use them to train general-purpose AI models without separate permission. Uploads may be processed through Bird Lens's backend and configured AI providers.

Active analysis payloads are deleted within 30 days unless they need to be retained for support, safety review, abuse prevention, security, debugging, or legal compliance.

Do not upload anything you are not comfortable having processed for analysis. Photos, recordings, and observation notes can contain faces, voices, locations, and other personal or conservation-sensitive information.

  • Remove faces, voices, addresses, precise nest locations, and unrelated private details when possible.
  • Do not upload media centered on people when it is unnecessary for bird identification.
  • Do not upload someone else's private content without a fair reason and appropriate permission.
  • Use the main Privacy Policy for the formal privacy terms that govern Bird Lens services.

Safety Boundaries

We Aim To Help With

  • Comparing visible field marks and body shape.
  • Comparing songs and calls with local candidates.
  • Recording habitat, season, range, and behavior clues.
  • Recognizing when evidence is too limited for a confident identification.

We Do Not Help With

  • Disturbing nests, handling wildlife, trespassing, or baiting birds.
  • Excessive playback or unsafe approaches for a better recording.
  • Publishing sensitive locations for threatened species.
  • Veterinary diagnosis or definitive claims unsupported by evidence.

What AI Can Get Wrong

AI systems can be useful pattern detectors, but field evidence is often incomplete. Treat outputs as candidates to verify, not authoritative species records.

  • It may miss diagnostic marks hidden by pose, distance, blur, shadow, or foliage.
  • It may confuse juveniles, females, seasonal plumage, or similar species.
  • It may mistake echoes, mimicry, insects, frogs, or background birds for the target.
  • It cannot confirm range, season, habitat, or behavior that the input does not show.

Safer Use Checklist

  1. Remove unnecessary personal and precise location details before uploading.
  2. Use suggestions as a shortlist, then compare diagnostic evidence.
  3. Verify candidates with a trusted field guide or local birding authority.
  4. Contact a wildlife professional if a bird appears injured, trapped, or in immediate danger.

Continue through the trust center

These pages work together: methodology explains how advice is made, safety explains tool limits, and the changelog shows what changed.