Editorial policy

The rules the site holds itself to: independence from Joi AI, plain-language affiliate disclosure, no sponsored content dressed up as editorial, corrections logged with dates, sourcing standards that keep AI-summarised second-hand claims off the page.

Independence

joi-ai.io is not affiliated with the Joi AI platform, Joi AI's operator, or any of the alternatives listed on the site. No editorial staff hold equity in these companies. No pre-publication review is offered to the platforms covered. Joi AI has never seen any draft on this site before publication and does not have approval rights over any claim. If Joi AI disputes a factual claim, that goes through the corrections process below the same way any reader challenge would.

Independence is why the main Joi AI coverage covers the Neuron paywall pattern honestly rather than smoothing it over: the site is not answering to the platform.

Affiliate revenue in plain language

Some outbound links to Joi AI on this site are affiliate links. If a reader clicks and later signs up for Premium, this site may receive a small commission from the platform. The commission does not change what the reader pays. It also does not change what the coverage says: the Neuron paywall is covered honestly, the 115-character message cap is covered honestly, the Android app not shipping yet is covered honestly. Coverage of complaints from Trustpilot users is included whether or not it dampens conversion.

Affiliate links are visually distinct only through what they link to: any button or link labelled "Open Joi AI" leads through the affiliate path. Inline mentions of joi.ai and app store listings in prose typically do not carry affiliate parameters.

The site does not accept affiliate arrangements from every AI companion platform. The alternatives listed on the homepage are picked because they compete with Joi AI for the same user, not because they pay a higher commission rate. Editorial value drives inclusion; commercial arrangement does not.

Sponsored content policy

The site does not currently publish sponsored content. If that changes, sponsored placement will carry a clear "Sponsored" label at the top of the affected content and a note in the item stating who paid for the placement. Sponsored content will never share a URL with editorial coverage of the same platform. A paid Joi AI placement will not appear on the same page as the independent Joi AI coverage.

Paid links inside editorial text are prohibited. If a company offers to pay for an inline link inside a paragraph, the offer is declined. This is the pattern that most degrades trust in independent coverage, so it doesn't happen here.

Corrections and the correction log

Factual errors reported to [email protected] get reviewed within one week. Verified errors are corrected on the affected page. Corrections that materially change the shape of a claim (a price that was reported wrong, a feature described inaccurately, a promo code that expired) get a dated note on this page under a "Recent corrections" section that this policy will maintain going forward.

Typo fixes, style changes and clarifications that don't change meaning are not logged as corrections. Silent updates are limited to those cases. If a reader is uncertain whether a change is a correction or a clarification, they can email and ask.

Sourcing standards

Every material factual claim on the site traces to one of three source types: (1) the Joi AI platform's own product pages, T&C, App Store listing and pricing page; (2) named independent review outlets that documented specific dollar figures or dated observations; (3) community threads on Trustpilot or Reddit, used to characterise the shape of user experience rather than to establish specific numbers. Coverage attribution on the homepage lines up with this hierarchy: primary source claims are stated directly, third-party claims are attributed by outlet name, community-thread patterns are described generally.

Fabricated attributions are the fastest way to lose reader trust and would count as a serious editorial failure here. If a specific figure hasn't been documented anywhere reliable, it does not go on the page. Detail on how this is enforced sits on the methodology page.

Use of AI in the editorial process

AI tools are used for spellcheck, first-draft assistance and clean-up on structured elements like FAQ formatting. AI is not used to fabricate sources, invent measurements, or generate quotes attributed to real people. Every factual claim gets verified by a human editor before publication regardless of how it was drafted, and the sourcing hierarchy above applies without exception. The sourcing hierarchy covers this in more detail.

Handling of research citations

When academic or institutional research shapes a claim (Common Sense Media, MIT Media Lab, Stanford Brainstorm Lab on the broader AI companion category), the citation goes directly to the primary publication page from the institution, not to a secondary write-up that summarises it. This keeps the reader one click from checking the original. Links to research are given rel="noopener" and open in a new tab; they carry no affiliate parameters.

Author accountability

Every content page carries a byline. As of 2026, that byline is Melissa Blake, senior editor covering AI companion platforms. The byline is not a marketing decoration: the named editor is accountable for the coverage on the page. Corrections against a specific claim can be directed to that byline via [email protected]. Melissa's background and how she approaches a review are on the author page.

Reader challenges

Readers who disagree with a claim on the site are invited to email [email protected] with the specific claim and the counter-source. Challenges that hold up get the page updated and the correction logged. Challenges that don't hold up get an email response explaining why. Either way, there's a human reading the challenge, not an autoresponder. Enforceable conditions of using this coverage sit on the terms of service; the adult-only positioning that this policy operates under is documented on the the 18+ gate and enforcement; federal record-keeping treatment for editorial coverage is on the the § 2257 record-keeping analysis.

How this policy is put into practice on the pricing and feature claims is on the the source hierarchy. Broader positioning of the site is on the about page. Legal handling of user data is on the privacy policy.