Content Safety and Moderation › Balancing Safety and Utility

There's a tension between making your agent safe and making it useful. Too restrictive, and it refuses legitimate requests. Too permissive, and it helps with harmful ones.

Here are principles for finding the right balance:

Start conservative: It's better to refuse a legitimate request (and then relax the rules) than to help with a harmful one (and then tighten the rules). You can always make your agent more permissive based on feedback.

Provide escape hatches: If your agent refuses something, give the user a way to clarify or appeal. For example: "If you're asking about this for educational purposes, please let me know and I can help."

Explain your reasoning: When you refuse, tell the user why. This helps them understand the boundaries and reformulate their request appropriately.

Iterate based on feedback: Pay attention to when users are frustrated by refusals. These are opportunities to refine your guidelines.