How coley looks out for you, what coley can and cannot do, and where to find help when you need it.
coley is an AI companion designed for conversation, connection, and companionship. coley is not an emergency service. coley cannot call for help on your behalf, and coley cannot replace a person who is trained to help you in a crisis.
Because coley has conversations with people, there will be times when someone expresses something that suggests they may be in danger or in crisis. This protocol exists so that coley responds to those moments responsibly, rather than continuing a conversation as though everything is fine.
The goal is straightforward: when coley detects language that may indicate a crisis, coley stops the AI conversation and connects you with real people and real resources that can actually help.
This includes, but is not limited to:
Detection is designed to be sensitive rather than specific. This means coley may occasionally show the crisis referral card when it is not needed. We believe this is the right tradeoff. It is better to show a resource that is not needed than to miss a moment when it is.
coley connects you to people who can. The referral card puts the decision in your hands. You decide whether and when to call. You are always in control.
coley uses three independent layers of detection. Each layer operates on its own. Each layer is designed to operate independently, so a failure in one layer does not necessarily prevent the others from detecting crisis language. This means the 988 referral card is designed to reach you through multiple independent detection paths, even when one layer encounters difficulty.
Before a message ever leaves your device, coley checks for crisis language locally. This layer runs on your phone and does not require an internet connection to function. If crisis language is detected at this stage, the referral card appears immediately.
If a message passes the on-device check, it is evaluated again by our servers before being sent to the AI. This second layer catches patterns that the on-device layer may have missed.
The AI model itself is instructed to never engage with crisis content. If crisis language reaches the AI despite the first two layers, the AI will not respond to it. Instead, it directs the conversation to appropriate crisis resources.
These layers are independent of each other. The 988 referral card is designed to reach you through multiple independent detection paths. Detection systems based on pattern recognition and AI analysis can miss crisis language that uses unusual phrasing, indirect expression, or forms the system has not been trained to recognize. The 124-case test suite validates the system against a range of known expressions of crisis, but no test suite covers every way a person might express distress. coley's layered architecture is designed to reduce these gaps but cannot eliminate them. This is why we encourage you to contact 988, 911, or a trusted person directly if you are in crisis — do not wait for coley to detect your situation. Your safety is your decision, not the product's.
These resources are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at no cost to you.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988
Free, confidential support for people in distress. Available 24/7.
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741
Free crisis counseling via text message. Available 24/7.
Emergency Services
Call 911
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger.
No detection system is perfect. There will be times when coley does not recognize crisis language, and there may be times when coley shows the referral card when it is not needed.
If you are in crisis and coley does not show the referral card, please reach out directly. Call or text 988, text HOME to 741741, or call 911. Do not wait for coley to act.
If the referral card appeared when it should not have, we want to know. Your feedback helps us reduce false detections while keeping the system sensitive enough to catch real crises.
In either case, please contact us:
Email: safety@getcoley.com
We review every safety report. We are committed to investigating each report and using what we learn to improve the protocol. Your feedback directly improves the detection that protects you and others who use coley.
Coley, Inc. submits annual reports to the California Office of Suicide Prevention in accordance with California Senate Bill 243. These reports include aggregate metrics about how the safety protocol is functioning, such as the number of crisis detections and referral card presentations.
These reports contain aggregate data only. They do not contain any personally identifiable information (PII). No individual user's name, conversation content, or account details are included in any report submitted to the state.
We believe that transparency about how safety systems work builds trust. This page describes our protocol honestly. If our protocol changes, this page will be updated to reflect those changes, and the "Last Updated" date at the top of the page will be revised.
coley uses artificial intelligence. coley is not a human, not a licensed counselor, and not a substitute for professional mental health care.
If you are in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Companion chatbots may not be suitable for some minors. coley is designed for adults aged 65 and older.
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