Frequently Asked Questions

Can my instructor see my Hero Map?

No. Hero Maps are private. They are not visible to instructors, other students, or anyone except you. This is enforced at the database level.

Can other students see my ideas?

Only if you choose to share them. The Parking Lot defaults to personal. You have to explicitly toggle "Share with cohort" for an idea to become visible to the class. Personal ideas stay personal.

Can I see what other students shared?

Yes. Shared ideas appear in the Idea Generation Sessions project, which you can access from your team dashboard. Only ideas that students chose to share are visible there.

What happens to my data after the course ends?

Your account and all your data remain yours. You can continue using Private Language, export your data, or delete your account at any time. Nothing is deleted when the course ends.

Is my data used to train AI?

No. Your data is never used to train AI models. When Private Language uses AI (like in Hero Lens brainstorming), your information is processed but not stored by the AI provider and never used for model training.

What does the recording consent checkbox mean?

During onboarding, you saw a checkbox about class recordings being processed by AI. That refers to session recordings made during class (lectures, discussions) — not your personal data in Private Language. Those recordings are processed to extract ideas for the shared "Idea Generation Sessions" project.

I forgot my password or can't log in

Use the password reset link on the sign-in page. If that doesn't work, reach out to Stephen or Justine for help.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes. Private Language works in mobile browsers — Safari, Chrome, and others. The Parking Lot is especially designed for quick mobile capture. Bookmark pvtlng.dev on your home screen for easy access.

What's "cross-pollination" and "Class AI"?

These are features coming later in the course:

• Cross-Pollination (Week 3) surfaces connections between your ideas and your classmates' shared ideas. It helps you discover unexpected overlaps and complementary thinking.
• Class AI (Week 7) is a knowledge agent built from the course's collective discussions, personalized to your BIG need. More details when they launch.

Who built this?

Private Language is built by Stephen Szermer. It's a knowledge sovereignty platform — the core idea is that your knowledge should belong to you, structured in a way that makes it useful, while carefully bounded sharing produces collective intelligence.