Overview
Genius and LACES include a support chat, provided by Intercom, that administrators use to reach our support team. Depending on your organization's setup, the chat can include Fin, an AI assistant from Intercom that answers questions using our Help Center articles.
This article explains what the chat and Fin do, what information they use, and what they never touch, so your organization can review them against its own AI policy. It applies to all Genius products, including Genius+ and LACES.
At a Glance
Question | Answer |
Who can use the chat? | Users who are signed in and have an Administrator role. It is not available to learners in the Genius learner portal or to students in the LACES Student Portal. |
What does Fin answer from? | Genius Help Center articles only. |
Is Fin connected to your Genius or LACES records? | No. Fin does not look up or read your learners, students, enrollments, grades, payments, or reports. |
Can Fin see your screen? | No. |
Is your information used to train AI? | No. |
Who answers if Fin is off, or can't answer? | A ticket will be created for our Support team. |
Can Fin be turned off for your organization? | Yes, contact Support. |
Two Ways the Chat Can Run
With Fin. Fin replies first, using our Help Center articles. If it can't find an answer, or you ask for a person, the conversation goes to our support team.
Without Fin. Your message goes straight to our support team. No AI is involved at any point.
Note: We are rolling Fin out progressively during a beta period, so your organization's chat may not include it yet. Once the rollout is complete, the chat will include Fin unless your organization has asked us to turn it off. The chat itself and the ticket form work the same either way.
What Fin Uses, and What it Doesn't
Fin uses two things to answer you:
Our published Genius Help Center articles.
What you type into the chat conversation.
Fin does not:
Connect to your organization's Genius or LACES data. It can't look up a learner, student, enrollment, grade, payment, course, or report.
See your screen, or the information displayed on it.
Use your profile details or the page you're on to shape its answers. Fin answers only from the Help Center articles and what you type.
Read or change anything in your account. No workflow, action, or automation behind the chat does either.
When you're signed in, the chat is identified with the name, email address, and phone number on your user profile, plus your organization's name and site address. The chat also records the address of the page you're on in Genius or LACES. This tells our support team who they're helping and where the problem happened. It does not give the chat access to anything else in Genius. Fin doesn't use any of it to answer your questions. The only thing that varies between organizations is which Help Center articles are available: Genius and LACES have separate articles, and some LACES articles are specific to one client.
How Your Information is Handled
Training. Your conversations are not used to train AI. Genius does not train AI models on your information. Intercom's AI providers are prohibited by contract from using conversation content to train or improve their models.
AI providers. To produce an answer, Intercom sends your message and the Help Center content Fin needs to its AI providers. Intercom states that these providers do not keep that information after the answer is produced. See Intercom's list of third-party service providers.
Conversation records. Chat conversations are stored in Intercom, our support platform, and are visible to our support team. This is the same as any support conversation with us, with or without Fin.
Security and compliance. Intercom publishes its security certifications and documentation in the Intercom Trust Center.
Who Sees the Chat
The chat appears for signed-in administrators and staff. It does not appear for learners in the Genius learner portal or for students in the LACES Student Portal, so those users can't reach Fin or the support team through it.
Turning Fin Off or On
Contact Technical Support and tell us whether you want Fin off, or back on, for your organization. We make the change on our side, usually by the next business day. When Fin is off, the chat stays available and conversations go to our support team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Intercom or Genius use our conversations to train AI?
No. Genius does not train AI models on your information, and Intercom's AI providers are prohibited by contract from using conversation content to train or improve their models.
Can Fin see our learners' or students' records?
No. Fin is not connected to your Genius or LACES data. It answers from Help Center articles and from what you type in the chat.
Can Fin see what's on my screen?
No. Fin can't see your screen or the information displayed in Genius or LACES. The chat does record the address of the page you're on, so our support team can see where you were. Fin doesn't use it to answer.
Who can read what I type in the chat?
Our support team can read it. It is stored in Intercom, our support platform. If Fin is on, the message is also processed by Intercom's AI providers to produce an answer, and they do not keep it afterward.
Should I put passwords, payment details, or learner personal information in the chat?
No. Describe the problem instead, for example "a learner can't see a course", and our support team will ask for anything else they need through the right channel.
Can our learners or students use Fin?
No. The chat, and therefore Fin, is not available in the learner portal or the Student Portal.
Can we use the chat without Fin?
Yes. Contact Technical Support. With Fin off, the chat works the same, but every message goes to our support team and no AI is involved.
What if Fin gives a wrong answer?
Fin answers only from our Help Center articles. If it can't find an answer, it says so and offers to connect you with our support team. Fin can still be wrong, so ask for a person whenever an answer doesn't match what you see, or before you act on anything that affects learner records, payments, or policy.
What should we give our AI review team?
Share this article. It covers what Fin is connected to, what it is not connected to, how your information is handled, and how to turn it off. For Intercom's own security documentation, see the Intercom Trust Center. For anything else your review team needs, such as a security questionnaire, contact Technical Support.
Still have questions?
Contact Technical Support. We're happy to walk your team through how the chat and Fin work.