AI Transparency Notice
Last updated 22 September 2026
This notice explains how SpendPilot uses artificial intelligence, what data the AI receives, and the choices you have. It is part of our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
1. Where AI is used
| Feature | What the AI does | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| Meal plan generation | Selects and arranges recipes from our database into a weekly or monthly plan that fits your budget, household size, number of meals and dietary selections, in Economy or Gourmet mode | Invent recipes from nowhere. Every plan is built from recipes we hold |
| Smart swaps | Suggests cheaper or own-brand alternatives when your basket goes over budget, and can suggest switching the whole shop to a cheaper supermarket | Change your basket without you accepting the swap |
| Plan explanations and tips | Writes short text explaining a plan, a swap or a weekly insight | Give financial, medical or dietary advice |
Price collection, price comparison, budget arithmetic and benchmarks are not AI. They are ordinary software.
2. Who provides the AI
Meal plans, swaps and explanatory text are generated using models provided by OpenAI. OpenAI processes data on our behalf as our processor under a data processing agreement.
Under OpenAI's published API terms, data sent through the API is not used to train OpenAI's models. SpendPilot has a zero data retention arrangement with OpenAI: request data is not cached or retained after the response is returned.
We do not use your personal data to train AI models ourselves.
3. What data the AI receives
For each request we send only what the planner needs:
- your budget and whether it is weekly or monthly;
- household size and number of meals a day;
- Economy or Gourmet mode;
- your dietary and food preference selections, if you have given consent;
- the recipes or items already in your plan or list, and the supermarket prices we have collected for them.
We do not send your name, email address, postcode, device identifiers or account identifiers. Requests are pseudonymous. [CONFIRM AGAINST THE PROMPT ACTUALLY SENT]
Dietary and health selections are special category data and are only ever included with your explicit consent. See the Dietary and Health Data Notice.
4. You stay in control
- Every plan, swap and intercept is a recommendation. You can edit any meal, reject any swap, change the supermarket, or ignore the plan entirely.
- Budget enforcement means SpendPilot warns you and offers swaps when a basket goes over your limit. It never blocks you from adding an item or buying what you want.
- No decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you is made solely by automated means. If you believe an automated result has affected you in a way you want a person to review, email [email protected] and a member of our team will look at it.
5. Limits of the AI
AI-generated content can be wrong, incomplete or oddly phrased. In particular it may:
- suggest a product or recipe that does not match your dietary requirements because of a tagging or matching error;
- misjudge quantities, portions or pack sizes;
- describe a saving that does not hold at checkout.
Treat every output as a draft for you to check. Always read product labels. See the Meal Plan, Allergen and Nutrition Disclaimer.
6. Labelling
Content generated by AI is marked in the app with a "Generated with AI" label or icon so you know what came from the model and what came from you or from a supermarket website.
7. Changes
If we change AI providers, send different data to the AI, or add AI features that affect you, we will update this notice and tell you in the app before the change takes effect.
8. Contact
Still have questions?
[email protected]