Cookie Policy
Every cookie we use, why we use it, how long it lasts, and how to disable it — with plain-English descriptions of what each one actually does.
On this page
What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that websites place on your device to remember information between visits. They're used for many purposes — some essential (like remembering you accepted the cookie banner), some helpful (like knowing which pages people find useful), and some commercial (like selecting which ads to show).
This page lists every cookie AI Terms Guide sets or allows to be set. For the broader picture of how we handle your information, see our Privacy Policy.
Types we use
Cookies on AI Terms Guide fall into three categories:
- Essential cookies — needed for the site to function. Cannot be disabled without breaking the site.
- Analytics cookies — help us understand which pages people find useful so we can improve them. You can disable these.
- Advertising cookies — used by ad networks to select relevant ads. You can disable these.
Analytics and advertising cookies are optional. When you first visit, our consent banner lets you accept or reject them. You can change your choice anytime — see how to manage cookies below.
Essential cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary and are set regardless of your consent choices.
cookie_consent— records which cookie categories you accepted. First-party. Duration: 12 months.__cf_bm— Cloudflare bot management cookie for security. Duration: 30 minutes.cf_clearance— Cloudflare security clearance after passing a challenge. Duration: 30 minutes to 1 year depending on challenge.- WordPress session cookies — set only during authenticated admin sessions (not relevant for readers).
Analytics cookies
We use Google Analytics 4 to understand what content works and what doesn't. These cookies are set only if you accept analytics on the consent banner.
_ga— Google Analytics visitor identifier. Duration: 24 months._ga_<container-id>— Google Analytics session data. Duration: 24 months._gid— Google Analytics daily visitor identifier. Duration: 24 hours.
We have configured Google Analytics with IP anonymization enabled and personalized advertising features disabled. Analytics data is retained for 14 months and then aggregated. See Google's privacy documentation for full details.
Advertising cookies
Display ads on AI Terms Guide are served by ad networks (Google AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine — see our Affiliate Disclosure). These networks may set cookies to:
- Select ads relevant to page content or your interests.
- Measure ad impressions and clicks for reporting.
- Prevent the same ad from being shown too many times (frequency capping).
- Detect fraudulent clicks.
Common advertising cookies:
__gads,__gpi— Google ad measurement. Duration: 13 months.IDE— Google DoubleClick advertising ID. Duration: 13 months.- Ezoic cookies (
ez_ab_ID,ezosuigeneris, etc.) — Ezoic ad optimization. Various durations. - Mediavine cookies — Mediavine ad delivery. Various durations.
These cookies are set only after you accept advertising cookies on the consent banner. If you reject them, contextually relevant ads may still appear (based on page content, not on user tracking), but personalized advertising cookies will not be set.
Third-party cookies
Some cookies come from third parties whose content or services we use:
- Google (Analytics, Ads) — see Google Privacy Policy.
- Cloudflare — CDN and security. Cloudflare Privacy Policy.
- Ezoic / Mediavine — ad networks. See their respective privacy policies.
- YouTube — embedded videos on concept pages set YouTube cookies when you play them. We use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (
youtube-nocookie.com) where possible. - Newsletter provider — sets a cookie only if you sign up for the newsletter, to track subscription state.
We do not embed social media widgets that set tracking cookies on page load. Sharing links open the social platform in a new tab without pre-loading their tracking scripts.
How to manage cookies
Through our consent banner
The consent banner appears on your first visit and lets you accept or reject each category. You can reopen it anytime by clicking "Cookie preferences" in the footer (coming soon on all pages).
Through your browser
All major browsers let you view, block, or delete cookies. Instructions differ by browser:
Through browser extensions
Extensions like uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and Ghostery block many tracking cookies automatically. We do not object to their use — we prefer readers use the site on their own terms.
Do Not Track signals
Some browsers send a "Do Not Track" (DNT) header. There is no industry consensus on how sites should respond to DNT, so we treat it as follows: if your browser sends DNT and you have not explicitly consented to analytics or advertising cookies, we treat DNT as an implicit rejection and set only essential cookies.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when we add, remove, or change how we use cookies. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change. Material changes are announced in AI Terms Weekly.
Questions people ask
No. Essential cookies (needed for the site to work) are always set, but you can reject analytics and advertising cookies and still read every page. Rejecting reduces our revenue but does not limit your access.
Reject "advertising cookies" on our consent banner (reopenable via the footer), or use browser settings and extensions like uBlock Origin. See the managing cookies section above for links.
We do not use browser fingerprinting on our own site. Our ad networks may use limited fingerprinting techniques — see their privacy policies for details.
You will be treated as a new visitor: the consent banner will reappear on your next visit and any newsletter subscription state will be reset (though your subscription in our email system is not affected). Analytics data about your past sessions is retained on our side but disassociated from your device.
No. Cookies are device-specific and browser-specific. If you visit from a phone and a laptop, they are treated as separate sessions. We do not use cross-device tracking.