Know Your Risks Before You Build

The problem RiskHelper.ai solves

Compliance shouldn't be a surprise 2 weeks before launch.

Most teams bring compliance in too late. Others don't have access to the right resources early enough to build with all risk areas accounted for. Either way, the result is the same: last-minute rework, delayed launches, and burned goodwill.

This is a fixable problem. But it requires asking the right questions early, before you've started design and coding.

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Two weeks before launch

Someone loops in legal, who discovers a compliance issue - leading to last-minute rework, a delay, or a leadership escalation that burns everyone's goodwill.

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Nobody thought to check

The team developing the product thinks it's Legal's job. Legal thinks product teams will tell them about risky features. The feature ships. Then something goes wrong.

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No shared language

Compliance doesn't speak product. Product doesn't speak compliance. Early conversations stall or never happen.

Built by

We built the tool we wish our PMs had

As former privacy leads within multiple Big Tech companies, we’ve seen how late-stage risk reviews can derail even the best product specs. The rework and friction aren't inevitable—they are usually just the result of missing information.

We spent our careers helping product teams turn compliance from a "no" into a "how." We built RiskHelper.ai to move that expertise to the very start of your lifecycle. It’s the "insider knowledge" your team needs to identify risks at Day Zero and keep your roadmap on track.

The Playground Framework

How you accelerate product development safely

There's a concept we developed called the Playground Framework. Named after how a children's playground is structured (with a soft floor, a supervised area, and a fence) it makes it clear where you can play freely (innovate quickly and try new ideas), where you need supervision (innovate but seek guidance), and where you need to be extra careful (get compliance involved early). Most teams don't know which of their ideas can be explored freely, which may need a little guidance, and which need to bring in legal and compliance early.

The soft floor

Move fast. Likely easy review ahead of launch.

A new filter UI. A settings redesign. A notification preference screen. No meaningful privacy, AI, or safety risk. Your team can build and iterate freely.

Go full speed

The supervised area

Real risk. Totally manageable early.

New data collection, an AI engine, a feature that could reach children. Understand it at ideation (not two weeks before launch) and it's just engineering work.

Plan for review

The fence

Know the boundary before you scope it.

Some features require significant compliance investment. Not impossible - but you need to know before engineering builds it. Knowing the fence means looking for another path.

Plan for extra compliance work or pivot

How it works

Start with what you have. Go deeper as you need to.

Risk Helper takes a layered approach. You start with a basic check to see if there are any risks. From here, you can go deeper if needed or as your product/service ideas develop.

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Free - available now for beta testing

Risk Triage Assessments

Answer a short set of questions about your feature or product idea. In minutes, you'll know which risk areas are relevant - and which aren't.

Triage your product

Find out the risks and how to deploy GenAI chat tools like Claude and ChatGPT safely in your business. Take the free 10 minute assessment and get an actionable implementation plan that addresses the risks for your company and your industry.

Deploy GenAI safely

1

Coming soon

What are the specific risks?

Plain-language breakdown of the specific risks in your design. Not regulatory citations - actual guidance on what creates risk and where you have flexibility. Output designed to share directly in Slack with legal or engineering.

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In development

AI-assisted guidance

Provide more context about your product and compliance setup. The AI assistant helps you understand how risk affects your users' experience and what to do about it.

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IN DEVELOPMENT

Human expert review

Take advantage of the depth and breadth of our experience in assessing privacy, online safety, AI risk, and the risk to children.

Contact us for details

FAQ

Common questions.

What is Risk Helper?

A free assessment tool that tells Product Managers which privacy, AI, online safety, and children's risk areas are relevant to their feature - in minutes. Covers GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, COPPA, and related frameworks across US, EU, UK, and Canadian regulatory contexts.

Who is it for?

Product Managers, Program Managers, and anyone involved in product/service development who want to understand risk earlier in the development cycle - at ideation, not implementation. Also used by compliance and legal teams who want product teams better prepared before reviews, and by companies without a dedicated in-house compliance function.

Is it free?

Level 0 - the risk triage assessment - is free. No credit card, no account required to start. Level 1 and Level 2 are in development; pricing has not yet been announced.

What risk areas does it cover?

Four domains: privacy and data protection, AI and algorithmic risk, online safety and harm prevention, and children's safety. Focuses on US, EU, UK, and Canadian regulatory contexts including GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, and COPPA.

Is this legal advice?

No. Risk Helper provides directional guidance for early-stage product decisions. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for review by a qualified legal or compliance professional. Always have your designs reviewed before launch.

Who built it?

Adam Buteux and Ali Chouhdry, who ran privacy risk reviews together at Meta. Before Meta, Adam built the privacy program at Audible and spent a decade at PwC on regulatory compliance for Fortune 500 companies. CISSP, CIPM, MBA, Computer Science.

Still have questions? Email us directly →

Great ideas become great products faster when the risks are understood early.