The agreement prohibits use of any Instacart platform data, content, or outputs to train machine-learning models or LLMs for any purpose, including open-source and non-commercial research, and prohibits use of platform data to build competing products or services.
This analysis describes what Instacart's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision extends the prohibition on AI training to open-source and non-commercial research purposes, which is a notably broad restriction relative to terms that limit prohibitions to commercial use. The prohibition applies to all platform data, including product and pricing information visible to users, not solely proprietary or confidential data.
Interpretive note: Enforceability of the prohibition on non-commercial and open-source AI training uses may vary depending on fair use doctrine and applicable law in specific jurisdictions; this area of law is actively developing.
Under this provision, users are prohibited from using any data, content, or outputs from the Instacart platform, including product information, pricing, and AI-generated outputs, to train machine-learning models or build competing services, regardless of whether the purpose is commercial, open-source, or non-commercial research.
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"Except as otherwise authorized by Instacart, use the Services—or any data, content, or output made available through them (including information relating to products, pricing, promotions, or users)—to create, train, fine-tune, refine, test, or improve any machine-learning model, large-language model (LLM), or other AI system, including for research, open-source, or non-commercial purposes. Compete using Service data. Use any data, content, or output obtained through the Services to build, enhance, or provide a product or service that competes with or substitutes for any aspect of the Services.— Excerpt from Instacart's Instacart Terms of Service (Superseded Capture)
1. REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages copyright law principles regarding the use of publicly accessible data for AI training, which is an active area of legal development in U.S. and EU jurisdictions. The FTC may evaluate competition-related data use restrictions in the context of platform market power. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act may apply to unauthorized access for data harvesting, complementing this contractual restriction. 2. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The prohibition on non-commercial and open-source AI training uses is broader than many analogous platform provisions, which typically restrict commercial AI training. Enforceability against non-commercial or research uses may face challenge under fair use doctrine in copyright law, and the contractual restriction's interaction with applicable law is unsettled. 3. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU jurisdictions may evaluate data use restrictions in the context of the EU AI Act and the Database Directive, which provides sui generis rights over database contents but may also create exceptions for certain research uses. The interaction between contractual data use restrictions and copyright fair use or database exceptions is jurisdiction-dependent and actively litigated in multiple jurisdictions. 4. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Developers, researchers, and enterprise users who access Instacart data through the platform or APIs should assess whether existing data processing or analytics workflows are consistent with this restriction. The prohibition on building competing services using platform data may affect market intelligence, price comparison, and grocery analytics providers that reference Instacart data. 5. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams advising AI developers, academic researchers, or market analytics providers should review data sourcing practices against this provision. The prohibition on robots.txt-authorized crawling for AI purposes (addressed in Section 4.4) operates in conjunction with this restriction to create a layered contractual barrier to data access for AI training purposes.
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This provision extends the prohibition on AI training to open-source and non-commercial research purposes, which is a notably broad restriction relative to terms that limit prohibitions to commercial use. The prohibition applies to all platform data, including product and pricing information visible to users, not solely proprietary or confidential data.
Under this provision, users are prohibited from using any data, content, or outputs from the Instacart platform, including product information, pricing, and AI-generated outputs, to train machine-learning models or build competing services, regardless of whether the purpose is commercial, open-source, or non-commercial research.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Instacart.