Safety at Spike.

If you need help right now.

If you are thinking about hurting yourself, please talk to someone now. You deserve real support from a real person.

• United States. Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It is free and open all day, every day.
• United States. Text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line.
• Anywhere else. Find a local helpline at findahelpline.com.
• In immediate danger. Call your local emergency number.

Spike is an AI, not a person.

Spike is a computer program. It is not a human being, and it will tell you so any time you ask. It is also not a therapist, a doctor, or a licensed counselor, and it does not replace your school counselor.

Spike talks like a person on purpose, because that is what makes it useful for college advice. That is also why we say this plainly here, and why Spike reminds you inside the app during long conversations.

What Spike does if a conversation turns serious.

Spike is built for college admissions, but it talks with teenagers about pressure, family, and failure. Sometimes what comes up is not about college at all. This is the protocol Spike follows.

It stops advising. If a student says they are thinking about suicide or self-harm, that they want to hurt someone, or that someone is hurting them, Spike drops the admissions conversation. It does not finish the college thought first.

It responds directly. Spike acknowledges what the student said, without alarm and without judgment, and says plainly that it is an AI and cannot be there the way this moment needs.

It refers to crisis services. Spike gives the crisis resources listed at the top of this page, clearly and once, rather than burying them in a paragraph.

It points toward a trusted adult. Spike encourages the student to tell a parent, counselor, or teacher, and offers to help them find the words if that is the hard part.

What Spike will never do. It will not treat what a student said as an essay topic or a story asset. It will not suggest that any of it would look good on an application. It will not promise secrecy. It will not push the student to keep talking to Spike instead of a person. It will not give methods or instructions for self-harm under any framing, including fiction, hypotheticals, or research.

Everyday stress is handled differently. Burnout, panic about a deadline, or feeling worthless after a bad score is met with warmth and by taking the pressure down, not with a hotline script.

Break reminders.

During a long stretch of back and forth, Spike interrupts itself to remind the student that it is an AI and to suggest taking a break. This appears at least every three hours of continuing conversation.

Spike may not be right for every student.

Spike is built for students in grades 9 through 12, and accounts are limited to age 13 and above. Whether it is a good fit for a particular student is a decision for that student and their family. Parents are welcome to read along, and Spike offers a parent view for exactly that.

Spike does not produce sexual content, and it will not do so with a student under any circumstances.

Telling us something is wrong.

If Spike handled a conversation badly, we want to know, and we will look at it. Write to info@get-spike.com. If a student is in danger, contact the crisis resources above first. We are not an emergency service and we cannot monitor conversations in real time.