AI Help and AI Damage Check

Version 1.0-draft, effective on the date this page is published: [OWNER REQUIRED: effectiveDate, set to the publication date when this version is published]
Checked against the code: 2026-10-12 (yardstick-saas src/anthropic.js, src/support-assistant.js, src/routes/assistant.js, src/routes/bookings.js, src/evidence-file.js)

The short version

Yardstick has two different AI features, and they do different jobs.

• AI Help answers questions about using Yardstick. It's guidance only, it can be wrong, and it never takes any action in your account.
• AI Damage Check compares pickup and return photos and flags possible changes for a person to review. It doesn't decide fault, liability, negligence, repair cost or whether to charge anyone. A person at the rental business reviews the photos and makes every decision.

Both use Anthropic's Claude models through the Anthropic API.

AI Help

• What it does. Business users can ask the in-app Help assistant how to use Yardstick. It answers from Yardstick's help articles and a minimal set of facts about the account.
• Guidance only. Its answers may be inaccurate or out of date. It doesn't take actions, change settings or touch your records. It isn't legal, tax, insurance or financial advice. Verify anything consequential yourself, for example in the app or with support@getyardstick.co.
• What's sent to Anthropic. The question, up to 8 earlier messages in the same conversation, the app page you're on, your role and a minimal set of account facts (such as plan, counts and which settings are on). These facts don't include renter names, contact details, booking details or amounts, but anything you type is sent as written, so don't paste renter details into a question.
• What Yardstick keeps. Yardstick doesn't store the question text on its servers. The conversation stays in your browser tab until you start over or log out. Yardstick keeps a daily count of questions per business.

AI Damage Check

What it does

AI Damage Check analyzes the condition photos taken at pickup and at return for possible changes, such as dents, cracks, tears, broken or missing parts, leaks or broken glass or lights, and flags them so a person at the rental business can take a closer look.

• When it runs. By default it runs automatically when return photos are recorded for a rental that also has pickup photos, whether the business's staff upload the return photos or the renter does on the self-service return page. A team member can also run a check by hand.
• Turning it off. An owner or manager can turn the automatic check off in Settings. Then recording a return sends nothing to the AI provider, and the team can run a check by hand or complete the inspection without AI. The change is recorded in the activity log.
• What's sent to Anthropic. Up to 8 pickup photos and 8 return photos (the most recent ones, if more were taken), and the equipment's name. No renter name or contact details are included, but the photos may show people, places or other things that happen to be in frame.
• Monthly allowance. Each completed check counts against the business's plan allowance. If the allowance is used up, or the AI service can't be reached, the return is still recorded and no AI result is shown.

What it can get wrong

AI Damage Check:

• may miss damage that's really there;
• may flag harmless differences, or damage that was already there before the rental;
• is affected by photo quality, camera angle, lighting, distance and obstruction (for example dirt, mud, water, reflections or something blocking the view). Photos taken from different angles or in different conditions at pickup and return make results less reliable.

The model also reports a confidence level. That's the model's own estimate, not a measured accuracy. We make no claim about the accuracy of AI Damage Check.

People make the decisions

• An AI Damage Check result is a suggestion to review. It doesn't determine fault, liability, negligence, repair cost, or whether to charge anyone or keep a deposit.
• A human must review the photos and decide. For each flagged item, a person at the business records a decision (for example confirmed or dismissed). That decision is stored separately from the AI result, so the original suggestion always stays visible and is never overwritten.
• Yardstick never charges a renter, keeps a deposit or makes a claim because of an AI result. (Online renter payments and deposits aren't currently offered through Yardstick at all.)
• The rental business is responsible for its decisions, and must not use an AI result as the only basis for a charge or claim. See the Acceptable Use Policy.

The evidence file

For a rental with a damage check, an owner or manager can open an evidence file: a printable summary of the pickup and return photos, the AI suggestions, the team's decisions and who made them. It always states "AI findings are suggestions; decisions were made by staff." and explains that nothing in it is a charge.

Tips for better results

• Take photos in good light, from the same angles at pickup and return.
• Make sure the equipment is reasonably clean and the photos are in focus, with nothing blocking the view.
• Always look at the photos yourself before deciding anything.

Photo suggestions

When a business adds equipment, its name and category may be sent to Anthropic to suggest which spots to photograph. No personal information is involved.

What Anthropic does with the data

Yardstick uses the Anthropic API under Anthropic's Commercial Terms of Service (last updated June 17, 2025), which incorporate Anthropic's Data Processing Addendum and state that Anthropic "may not train models on Customer Content from Services". Anthropic's Privacy Center says that for API users it automatically deletes inputs and outputs from its back end within 30 days, unless a longer period is agreed, is needed to enforce its Usage Policy, or is required by law ("How long do you store my organization's data?", https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/7996866-how-long-do-you-store-my-organization-s-data, updated July 1, 2026, checked 2026-10-12). [OWNER REQUIRED: confirm the Yardstick API account is on these standard terms, and re-check both pages on the publication date.] See also the Privacy Policy and Sub-processors.

For renters

If you rent from a business that uses Yardstick, the condition photos taken at pickup and return may be checked by AI for possible changes, including photos you upload yourself on the self-service return page. The AI only flags things for a person to look at. A person at the rental business makes any decision about damage, and Yardstick never charges you based on an AI result. If you have questions about a damage decision, or want to see the photos it was based on, contact the rental business.

[COUNSEL REVIEW: whether state automated-decision or profiling rules (for example the Colorado AI Act and CPRA automated-decisionmaking regulations) apply, given an AI flag can lead to a human money decision about a consumer; and whether renters need notice, or consent, before uploading return photos that are checked by AI.]