AI transparency

Use of Artificial Intelligence on Naturkompass · In accordance with EU AI Act Art. 50 · Status: April 2026

1. Our principle

Naturkompass uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a supporting tool — never as a replacement for scientific data. All AI-generated content is clearly marked as such. Our scientific database (over 14,000 plant and 6,400 animal species) comes from verified sources under CC BY 4.0 or CC0 license.

2. Where we use AI

a) AI Garden Assistant (Chat)

An interactive chat assistant answers questions about plants, animals, and garden ecology. The assistant uses Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini to generate responses.

Use camera function directly in the assistant

Get instant AI-powered species suggestions via photo and check matches directly.

Responses are generated in real-time and not stored
Rate-Limited: max. 6 requests/minute, 30 requests/day (logged in)
Security filters: Jailbreak detection (30+ patterns), output scanning
Labelling: The chat is labelled as "AI Garden Assistant"

b) AI-generated species descriptions

For some species profiles, summary descriptions are created using AI. These are based on the scientific data in our database and summarise ecology, habitat requirements, and garden relevance.

The underlying facts come from scientific sources
The AI only formulates the summary text
Labelling: Marked as ai_summary in the source code

c) AI-generated illustrations

Where no photos are available, AI-generated placeholder images are used.

Labelling: "AI-generated illustration" badge directly on the image
These images are intended solely for visual orientation

d) Lazy Gardener Generator (Garden plan)

Registered users can have an AI-supported garden plan generated. Based on existing garden plants, Anthropic Claude creates a personalised planting plan.

Paid feature (credits via Stripe)
Labelling: Labelled as "AI-generated garden plan"
Result is a suggestion, no guarantee of success

e) Photo analysis for species identification

Registered users can have photos from the garden diary analysed to receive up to three possible plant or animal species. The analysis is performed via Google Gemini Vision. There is deliberately no further external vision fallback.

Results are suggestions with an uncertainty value, not a binding identification
In case of uncertainty, multiple matches are displayed or "unknown" is returned
Labelling: Button and result area are labelled as AI plant identification
Hits are matched against the own Naturkompass catalogue, if possible

f) Editorial article generation (Admin)

For the knowledge section, article drafts can be created with AI support. These are editorially reviewed before publication and revised if necessary.

Only triggerable by the operator (admin function)
Every article undergoes an editorial review

3. AI providers used

Anthropic (Claude) — Chat assistant, garden plan generation. Anthropic processes data in accordance with their privacy policy.
Google (Gemini) — Chat fallback, photo analysis, article generation, quiz creation. Google processes data in accordance with their API terms of service. For API usage, inputs are not used for model training.

4. Limits and risks

AI systems can provide incorrect, incomplete, or misleading answers ("hallucinations"). We explicitly point out:

No guarantee: AI-generated content may contain errors. We assume no liability for accuracy.
No replacement: AI recommendations do not replace professional garden advice, plant protection advice, or ecological expert reports.
Labelling obligation: We label AI-generated content in accordance with Art. 50 of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689).

5. Data protection when using AI

Chat messages to the AI assistant are processed in real-time via streaming and are not permanently stored. Images for photo analysis are only processed for the respective request and are not additionally stored as an AI request. Photos stored in the garden diary are subject to the storage and deletion rules applicable there.

Data processing by AI providers is based on Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of a contract). Further details can be found in our privacy policy.

Privacy Technology — Garden Observatory

The Garden Observatory is not an AI system but a citizen science layer. As it is closely related to data processing, we document it here for completeness.

How does anonymisation work?

Your garden ID is converted into a pseudonymous hash using HMAC-SHA256 (PostgreSQL pgcrypto extension) before storage — similar to a digital fingerprint that only works in one direction. Even we cannot trace which hash belongs to which garden.

k-Anonymity

Data is only published once at least 500 gardens participate (global threshold) and a category contains at least 5 gardens. If a category is smaller, it is omitted — not rounded up or estimated.

Salt Rotation

The cryptographic salt used for hashing is rotated annually. After rotation, all previous hashes become worthless — even with full database access.

EXIF Data & Photos

All photos uploaded via Naturkompass (observations, garden diary, certification photos) are re-encoded server-side using sharp without .withMetadata(). This completely removes GPS coordinates, camera model, recording date and all other EXIF/XMP/ICC metadata — before the file is stored on our servers.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent). Opt-in per garden, withdraw at any time in garden settings.

The technical and methodological foundations of this privacy architecture are additionally documented in DOI-published reports:

6. Questions & contact

If you have questions about the use of Artificial Intelligence on Naturkompass, please contact:

E-Mail: hallo@gartenexpedition.de