This page is for IT departments. It explains how UC connects to an AI assistant, what passes between them, and what UC records.
Beta
The connection is in Beta. Details on this page may change before it is generally available. If you have questions, write to John at john.magee@understand-culture.com.
The standard
UC connects through MCP, the Model Context Protocol. MCP is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to outside sources. UC runs a remote MCP server, and your assistant connects to it over HTTPS.
Assistants that accept remote MCP connectors, such as Claude and ChatGPT, can connect directly. Microsoft Copilot can connect through Copilot Studio. What each assistant allows depends on its plan and on your company’s settings.
What UC offers
UC’s server offers two tools. Both tools only read, and neither can change anything on UC or in your systems. Each tool has a short description. The assistant reads the description to decide when to call the tool. The full text of both descriptions is below.
The first tool, list_coverage, returns the countries and topics that UC covers. It takes no input. Its description reads:
Returns the countries and topics that Understand Culture (UC) covers. Call it when you are not sure of the exact name of a country or a topic. It takes no input.
The second tool, get_research, takes one country and one topic. It returns UC’s research for that combination. Its description reads:
Returns UC’s research on how people in one country think and act in one area of work, such as decision-making, feedback or persuasion. Call it whenever the user’s question involves people from another country, even if the user does not mention culture. Call it once for each country and each topic. Send only the country and the topic. Never send the user’s question, messages or files.
What your assistant sends
When the assistant asks for research, it sends UC a country and a topic, and nothing else. It does not send the user’s question, the conversation, files or any other content.
When it asks for the list of countries and topics, it sends nothing. In many AI assistants, the user can open each call and see what was sent.
What UC sends back
UC sends back the research as plain text, together with a link to the page on understand-culture.com where it is published and a label that shows the level of the research. If UC does not cover a country or a topic, the response says so.
The response begins with a short note to the assistant on how to use the research. The note is the same in every response, and it contains no other instructions. Its full text is:
This is research from Understand Culture (UC). Base your answer on it, and include the link to the UC page. If the research does not cover part of the question, say so plainly. State which part of your answer does not come from UC.
How the user signs in
The connection uses OAuth, the standard sign-in method for connectors. The user signs in to the UC account in the browser and approves the connection.
The assistant then receives a token that identifies the user’s account. The user’s password is never passed to the assistant.
The token can only call UC’s two tools. It cannot change the account. Each call to get_research is charged to the account. Calls to list_coverage are not charged.
The user can withdraw the token on the UC account page at any time.
What UC records
For each call, UC records the account, the user, the time, the country, the topic and the IP address the call came from.
This address usually belongs to the AI provider’s server, not to the user’s computer. UC uses this record for billing, to protect the service, and to see which research is used.
UC keeps the IP address for 90 days. It keeps the other data for as long as billing and tax law require.
On a team account, the manager sees the total use, not which countries or topics each person asked about.
UC does not receive or store the user’s question or conversation. UC processes this data for its own purposes, under its own privacy policy.
Details are in the privacy policy on the Contact page. If your company requires a data processing agreement, write to John at john.magee@understand-culture.com.
What UC cannot reach
UC has no access to your systems, your files or your assistant’s conversations. It only answers the requests your assistant sends. If UC does not answer, your AI assistant writes its reply without it.
Where it runs
UC’s server is hosted by United Domains in data centers in Germany.
Limits
Each person can make up to 300 calls per day. This limit protects the customer and the service if an assistant makes calls by mistake.
When a person reaches the limit, UC sends a message instead of research, and the assistant passes it on to the user.
UC also watches for unusual use that could indicate bulk copying of the research.
Approving UC
How UC is approved depends on your AI assistant. The connector address is ⟨connector address⟩. Each user also sees it on the UC account page.
In Claude Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner adds the connector address in the organization settings. Each member then connects individually.
In ChatGPT Business and Enterprise plans, an administrator allows custom connectors and adds UC for the workspace.
In Microsoft Copilot, a specialist builds an agent in Copilot Studio, adds UC’s server as a tool and publishes the agent. Each user then signs in to UC once.
If you need more information for a security review, write to John at john.magee@understand-culture.com.
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