Hello Google AI team and community,
I run DearTales, a UK parent-operated personalised story service. An adult parent or guardian provides a photo and first name of their child, chooses a story world, and requests one personalised still-image preview. The child is the subject, but the intended customer and operator is the adult. We do not provide child accounts or ask children to submit content, and our checkout and upload journey are designed for parents. The public website is marketed to parents.
The current Gemini API Additional Terms say an API Client must not be directed towards or likely to be accessed by people under 18. Does this restriction apply to this parent-operated service where children may appear in photos and outputs, but adults alone submit the information and consent? Would an adult-only access gate change the answer? Does parental consent affect this restriction?
Separately, is a private developer test, accessible only to an adult and using an authorised adult photo, permitted while we seek clarification for the customer-facing service?
If the Gemini Developer API is not permitted for our intended customer use, is there a Google service or contract that expressly permits a parent-operated service to process children’s photos for personalised story images? Please point us to the appropriate official policy or support escalation for a written answer. We will keep customer-facing generation disabled until clarified.
For paid API use, could you also confirm the data handling and retention period for uploaded photos, prompts, and generated images?
No personal photos, API keys, project details, or customer data are included here.