OpenAI uses automated detection systems, including classifiers, reasoning models, hash-matching, and blocklists, combined with human review, to enforce its usage policies across ChatGPT and its API. The policies prohibit activities such as generating child sexual abuse material, facilitating real-world violence, automating high-stakes decisions without human oversight, and violating personal privacy. Users found to have violated the policies may have their accounts restricted or terminated; in cases involving an imminent threat of serious physical harm, OpenAI may refer the matter to law enforcement after human review.

OpenAI's Usage Policies (last updated October 29, 2025) define prohibited activities including generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM), facilitating real-world violence, automating high-stakes decisions without human oversight, and violating personal privacy. For proactive detection, OpenAI uses classifiers, reasoning models, hash-matching technologies, and blocklists to analyze user content and behavior at scale and flag potential policy violations. Flagged content is then assessed by trained human reviewers who operate within defined privacy and security safeguards; their role is to determine whether a violation occurred and whether escalation is warranted. When a bannable offense is confirmed, OpenAI may immediately revoke account access; cases involving an imminent and credible risk of violence may be referred to law enforcement. The Model Spec (December 2025) separately defines the behavioral rules embedded in OpenAI's models, governing when a model should refuse a request at inference time.