Cookie policy

1. Scope, and what these sites set by default

This policy covers both aiassurancecouncil.org and the candidate portal at portal.aiassurancecouncil.org. Each asks for consent on its own, and Google Analytics measures them separately. The two OpenAI advertising cookies in section 3 are the exception: they are shared by both sites.

By default, neither sets any cookie for analytics. One analytics tag always runs on both — Umami, an open-source, cookie-free analytics tool on infrastructure the operator controls. It sets no cookie, stores no identifier on your device, and reports aggregate page-view counts only; nothing is shared with an advertising company. There is no social embed, and no advertising pixel loads unless you allow it (section 3). Fonts are served from these domains rather than a third-party font service.

2. Google Analytics — optional, with your consent

On your first visit, a banner asks whether to allow Google Analytics, which helps the Council understand how the site is used. Nothing is loaded from Google, and no Google cookie is set, unless you select OK. That selection is the only thing that turns it on: continuing to read, scrolling, or following a link does not, and if you never select it Google Analytics does not load at all. Consent is optional, and withholding it does not restrict access to any content or to the portal.

The website and the portal use separate Google Analytics properties, so a visit to one is not joined to a visit to the other. Because they are separate, each asks for consent in its own right.

If you allow it, Google Analytics sets the following cookies:

• _ga — distinguishes one browser from another using a randomly generated identifier, so that repeat visits are not counted as new visitors. Lifetime: two years.
• _ga_* — retains the state of the current browsing session for the Google Analytics property concerned:_ga_LEN4FQ5CSW on this website and _ga_9325W3VMZ0 on the candidate portal. Lifetime: two years.

Data collected through these cookies is processed by Google. The Council uses it for aggregate usage measurement only, not for advertising.

What Google is not told about the portal

The portal holds candidate records, so two limits apply there even after you allow Google Analytics. First, addresses that identify a person or a record — an attempt, a sitting, a credential — are stripped of that identifier before the page address is reported, and query strings are not reported at all; Google receives the shape of the page, never whose it was. Second, two areas are not measured at all: the staff panel, and a live examination sitting. Neither loads anything from Google, whatever your choice.

Withdrawing consent

Consent is stored on your device only once you have given it — nothing is written about a visitor who has not — and can be withdrawn at any time. Selecting reset cookie choices clears the stored choice and reloads this page; the consent banner is shown again and Google Analytics does not load unless you allow it afresh. Cookies already set by Google Analytics can be removed through your browser's settings.

3. OpenAI advertising measurement, optional, with your consent

The Council advertises in ChatGPT. On this website and in the candidate portal, the same OK that allows Google Analytics also allows the OpenAI Ads measurement pixel, which tells the Council whether a visit that began with a click on one of its adverts went on to sign up, create a portal account, start the AI-Readiness Check, complete the Certified Applied AI Associate assessment, or enrol. Nothing is loaded from OpenAI, and no OpenAI cookie is set, unless you select OK on that site. In the portal it is never loaded while an examination or assessment is being sat.

If you allow it on either site, the pixel sets the following cookies on.aiassurancecouncil.org, so both sites read them. When a step above happens and they are present, it is reported to OpenAI: by the pixel on this website, and by the Council's server from the portal, which is why consent on either site covers the portal's reports.

• __oppref holds the reference OpenAI adds to the address when someone follows an advert, so that a later visit can be attributed to it. Lifetime: 30 days.
• __obref holds a randomly generated browser reference. Lifetime: one year.

Data collected through these cookies is processed by OpenAI to measure the Council's adverts. Nothing you type into either site is sent to OpenAI. Selecting reset cookie choices, above or at the foot of any portal page, removes both cookies, for both sites.

4. Cookies set by the candidate portal

The candidate portal runs on its own subdomain and sets its own cookies; this site itself sets none beyond the analytics cookies described above. Two are set there:

• A strictly necessary session cookie, which keeps a signed-in candidate signed in. Its name and lifetime are listed in the portal.
• aiac-ref, set for 30 days when a visitor arrives on a referral link so that the referral can be credited to the person who made it. It holds a referral code and nothing else, is readable only by the server, and is never used for advertising or for tracking behaviour across sites. It is a functional cookie: the portal works identically without it, and the only consequence of refusing or deleting it is that a referral goes uncredited. It is set on arrival, before any consent interaction, and a visitor who does not want it should not follow a referral link or should clear it in their browser settings.

5. Email links

If the launch-updates list is delivered by a third-party email provider, that provider may record whether a message was opened or a link followed. This happens in the email client, not on this website. The provider will be named here once selected.

6. Controlling cookies

Consent is requested before any cookie that tracks you is set, and withholding it does not degrade access to any content. The one exception isaiac-ref above, which is set on arrival from a referral link because it exists to attribute that arrival and cannot do so retrospectively; it tracks nothing about the visitor and follows them nowhere. Your consent, once given, is held in your browser's local storage under the key aiac-consent-ga; nothing is stored for a visitor who has not given it, which is why the banner appears again on a later visit. It can be changed with the reset link above, and your browser's own settings can block or delete cookies for this site at any time. The website and the portal are separate origins, so each holds its own choice under that key, and the portal's pages carry their own reset link. Withdrawing on one leaves Google Analytics allowed on the other, but removes the shared OpenAI cookies for both.

Two more notes live in your browser's storage, and neither is a cookie or an identifier. If you close the AI-Readiness Check banner or prompt on this website,aiac-quiz-promo records that, so it is not shown again. While you take the check on the portal, your unfinished answers are kept for that tab only, so a reload does not lose them, and cleared when you finish. Neither is ever sent to us.

7. Changes

This policy is version controlled. Any addition of a cookie is a material change and will be published with a new issue number and effective date. The Council may introduce strictly necessary cookies without prior consent where required to deliver a service you have requested.

Contact

Questions about this policy should be addressed to hello@aiassurancecouncil.org.