Affiliate Disclosure

The short version

What affiliate marketing means

An affiliate link is a specially formatted URL that tracks which website sent a customer to a service. When someone clicks our link and later signs up or buys, the affiliate program credits us with a commission — typically 10-30% for AI tools, calculated on the initial purchase or first-month subscription. The price you pay is exactly the same as if you had gone directly.

Affiliate marketing is how most independent reference sites (including Wirecutter, Tom's Hardware, and countless others) fund themselves without paywalls. The FTC requires clear disclosure whenever affiliate relationships exist, which is what this page provides.

How we use affiliate links on AI Terms Guide

We use affiliate links in three specific contexts:

• Tool review pages. When we review a specific AI tool on the tools index, the "Try [Tool]" or "Visit site" link is usually an affiliate link.
• Comparison pages. Our comparison articles may include affiliate links for the products being compared, on both sides.
• Newsletter recommendations. When we recommend a product in AI Terms Weekly, links may be affiliate.

We only affiliate with products we would recommend anyway. We do not affiliate with a product just because it offers a commission — we recommend based on merit and add the affiliate link separately.

What is NOT affiliated

Certain content is always non-affiliate. This is a hard editorial rule.

• Term definitions. Our 2,000+ term pages have no affiliate links in the definitions themselves. Links go to related concepts, category hubs, and citation sources — never to commercial products.
• Model spec pages. Every model page links to the official provider's product page (Anthropic Console for Claude, platform.openai.com for GPT, etc.). These are direct links, not affiliate.
• Concept tutorials. Our deep-dive tutorials are educational content. Any product mentions are illustrative, not affiliate.
• Provider profiles. Our provider profiles link to official company pages, never through affiliate networks.
• Learning paths. Our learning paths are non-affiliate throughout.

Display advertising

In addition to affiliate links, AI Terms Guide displays advertisements from ad networks:

• Google AdSense (initially).
• Ezoic (as traffic grows).
• Mediavine (at scale).

These networks show contextually relevant advertising and pay us based on impressions and clicks. Advertisers do not choose which of our pages their ads appear on, and we do not choose which advertisers appear. The networks handle this algorithmically.

Ads are visually distinct from editorial content. If you find an ad label unclear, please tell us via the contact page.

How we protect editorial independence

Money and content are separated by strict internal rules.

• Writers don't see revenue data. The editorial team does not have access to which affiliate links convert or how much they pay. When we recommend a product, we don't know how much (if anything) we'll earn.
• Affiliate status doesn't influence rankings. Our comparison pages rank products by actual merit for the reader's use case, not by commission rate.
• Negative reviews stay honest. When a product has flaws, we say so — even if that product is one we affiliate with.
• Non-affiliate recommendations get equal weight. Products without affiliate programs (open-source tools, small vendors, some enterprise products) appear in our recommendations exactly when they deserve to.
• No pay-to-play. No company can pay to be featured, ranked higher, or reviewed more favorably.

Specific partners we participate with

We participate in the following affiliate programs at time of writing. This list is updated whenever partnerships change.

• Amazon Associates — for books on AI, machine learning, and adjacent topics.
• Coursera Affiliate — for AI and ML courses.
• DeepLearning.AI (via partner network) — for AI specializations.
• Individual AI tool partnerships — for tools reviewed on our tools index. Programs vary and rotate.

Not every AI tool has an affiliate program. Some of our most-recommended tools (open-source projects, small vendors) offer no commission at all. Those recommendations stand or fall on their own merits.

FTC compliance and material connection disclosure

Per the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides, we disclose material connections whenever they exist. This page is our standing disclosure. In addition:

• Individual pages that contain affiliate links display a "This page contains affiliate links" note near the top.
• Newsletter emails with affiliate links include a disclosure line.
• Social media posts that promote affiliate content are marked #ad or #affiliate.

Your choices as a reader

• Skip affiliate links. You can always search for a product directly and sign up without using our link. Doing so costs you nothing and costs us a small commission.
• Block ads. If ads bother you, an ad blocker will hide them. This costs us revenue but is your right — we understand.
• Support us differently. Subscribing to AI Terms Weekly, sharing pages with colleagues, and linking to us on your own blog or in your team's docs help enormously and cost you nothing.

Questions about advertising

Advertiser inquiries: contact us through the contact page and mark "Advertising" in the subject. We work with a limited set of advertisers whose products are relevant to our audience and align with our editorial standards.

Reader questions about a specific affiliate link, ad, or recommendation: also through the contact page. We respond within 5 business days.