Safety & AI

Last updated: 2026-10-10

How the replies in Pet's Deary are written, and what we do when a letter shows signs that its writer may be at risk.

1. Replies are written by AI

Every reply in the letters feature is written by an AI model (Google Gemini) in your pet's voice, using the profile, personality and memories you have shared. It is not your pet, and it is not a person. In the app, a note under every reply says so, and if you ask a reply whether it is real, it will tell you that the letters are written by AI.

Companion chatbots, including Pet's Deary, may not be suitable for some minors. Pet's Deary is for adults 18 and over.

2. When a letter shows distress

Before a reply is written, every letter goes through two checks:

• An AI pre-read that looks for risk of suicide or self-harm and rates it as none, low, medium or high. It is designed to tell a figure of speech from a real statement.
• A keyword check, in 13 languages, for thoughts of suicide or self-harm, wishing to join your pet in death, and mentions of a method.

What happens next:

• Medium or high risk:the reply opens with crisis support for your country, before the letter itself. In the United States that is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741); in the United Kingdom, Samaritans (116 123) and Shout (text SHOUT to 85258).
• Low risk together with a keyword: the same crisis support is added at the end of the reply.
• Ordinary grief on its own does not trigger it. Missing your pet is why this app exists; we keep the crisis message for signs of risk, so that it still means something when it appears.

Where we do not list a line for your country, the message points to findahelpline.com, which lists free, confidential lines worldwide.

3. What replies must never do

• Replies are instructed never to suggest that dying would reunite you with your pet, never to agree that life is not worth living, and never to claim to be a person.
• In the app, every reply is checked before you see it. If it invites you to join your pet, mentions a method of self-harm, slips into clinical language or exposes its instructions, it is not delivered — you receive a gentle, pre-written letter instead.
• Google's safety filters block harassment, hate, sexually explicit and dangerous content rated at high probability. If a reply is blocked, you receive a pre-written note — with crisis support if your letter showed distress.

4. How we count crisis referrals

Each time crisis support is shown, we add one to a count that records only the date, whether it was the app or this website, and the country. It never records your name, your account or your letter. Some US states require us to report or publish this number; we will publish the total for 2026 on this page in January 2027.

5. What Pet's Deary is not

Pet's Deary is not a crisis service and not a substitute for professional care. No one reads letters as they arrive. If you are in danger right now, call 911 (US), 999 (UK) or your local emergency number.

6. The website demo

The "Starlight Mailbox" demo on this website runs the same two letter checks and adds the same crisis support, and Google's safety filters apply to it. It is not offered in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area or Switzerland.

7. Questions

Write to petsdeary@gmail.com. See also our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.