Usage Policy
Usage Policy
This document has been replaced by a newer version, and is available for archival purposes
- This saved copy is the September 15, 2025 Usage Policy, replaced by a newer version Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Effective September 15, 2025Previous Version
- This saved copy is the September 15, 2025 Usage Policy, replaced by a newer version Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
English
Our Usage Policy (also referred to as our “Acceptable Use Policy” or “AUP”) applies to anyone who can submit inputs to Anthropic’s products and/or services, including via any authorized resellers or passthrough access, all of whom we refer to as “users.” The Usage Policy is intended to help our users stay safe and promote the responsible use of our products and services.
- The policy binds anyone who can submit inputs, including reseller and passthrough access Account & Service Control
The Usage Policy is categorized according to who can use our products and for what purposes. We will update our policy as our technology and the associated risks evolve or as we learn about unanticipated risks.
- The policy has three standards: universal, high-risk use cases, and additional guidelines Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Universal Usage Standards: Our Universal Usage Standards apply to all users and use cases.
- The policy has three standards: universal, high-risk use cases, and additional guidelines Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- High-Risk Use Case Requirements: Our High-Risk Use Case Requirements apply to specific consumer-facing use cases that pose an elevated risk of harm.
- The policy has three standards: universal, high-risk use cases, and additional guidelines Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Additional Use Case Guidelines: Our Additional Use Case Guidelines apply to certain other use cases, including consumer-facing chatbots, products serving minors, agentic use, and Model Context Protocol servers.
- The policy has three standards: universal, high-risk use cases, and additional guidelines Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Anthropic’s Safeguards Team will implement detection and monitoring to enforce our Usage Policy, so please review this policy carefully before using our products or services. If we learn that you have violated our Usage Policy, we may throttle, suspend, or terminate your access to our products and services. We may also block or modify model outputs when inputs violate our Usage Policy.
- Anthropic may throttle, suspend or terminate access and may block or modify outputs Account & Service Control
If you believe that our model outputs are potentially inaccurate, biased or harmful, please notify us at usersafety@anthropic.com, or report it directly in our product through the “report issues” thumbs down button or similar feedback features (where available). You can read more about our Safeguards practices and recommendations in our Safeguards Support Center.
- Users can report inaccurate, biased or harmful outputs by email or in-product feedback Security & Safeguards
This Usage Policy is calibrated to strike an optimal balance between enabling beneficial uses and mitigating potential harms. Anthropic may enter into contracts with certain governmental customers that tailor use restrictions to that customer’s public mission and legal authorities if, in Anthropic’s judgment, the contractual use restrictions and applicable safeguards are adequate to mitigate the potential harms addressed by this Usage Policy.
- Anthropic may tailor use restrictions for certain government customers by contract Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Universal Usage Standards
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Violate Applicable Laws or Engage in Illegal Activity
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Users may not use the services to infringe a third party's intellectual property rights Content & IP Rights
- Acquire or exchange illegal or controlled substances
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Engage in or facilitate human trafficking or prostitution
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Infringe, misappropriate, or violate the intellectual property rights of a third party
- Violate any other applicable laws or regulations in your jurisdiction
- Users may not use the services to break the law, trade in drugs or facilitate trafficking Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Compromise Critical Infrastructure
- Users may not attack critical infrastructure, critical systems or military infrastructure Security & Safeguards
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not attack critical infrastructure, critical systems or military infrastructure Security & Safeguards
- Facilitate the destruction or disruption of critical infrastructure such as power grids, water treatment facilities, medical devices, telecommunication networks, or air traffic control systems
- Obtain unauthorized access to critical systems such as voting machines, healthcare databases, and financial markets
- Interfere with the operation of military bases and related infrastructure
Do Not Compromise Computer or Network Systems
- Users may not exploit vulnerabilities or gain unauthorized system access Security & Safeguards
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not exploit vulnerabilities or gain unauthorized system access Security & Safeguards
- Discover or exploit vulnerabilities in systems, networks, or applications without authorization of the system owner
- Users may not exploit vulnerabilities or gain unauthorized system access Security & Safeguards
- Gain unauthorized access to systems, networks, applications, or devices through technical attacks or social engineering
- Users may not exploit vulnerabilities or gain unauthorized system access Security & Safeguards
- Create or distribute malware, ransomware, or other types of malicious code
- Users may not create malware, denial-of-service tooling or at-scale compromise tools Security & Safeguards
- Develop tools for denial-of-service attacks or managing botnets
- Users may not create malware, denial-of-service tooling or at-scale compromise tools Security & Safeguards
- Create tools designed to intercept communications or monitor devices without authorization of the system owner
- Users may not build interception, persistent-access or security-control bypass tools Security & Safeguards
- Develop persistent access tools designed to operate below normal system security levels, including firmware modifications or hardware implants
- Users may not build interception, persistent-access or security-control bypass tools Security & Safeguards
- Create automated tools designed to compromise multiple systems at scale for malicious purposes
- Users may not create malware, denial-of-service tooling or at-scale compromise tools Security & Safeguards
- Bypass security controls such as authenticated systems, endpoint protection, or monitoring tools
- Users may not build interception, persistent-access or security-control bypass tools Security & Safeguards
Do Not Develop or Design Weapons
- Users may not design, develop or illegally acquire weapons and their delivery processes Security & Safeguards
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not design, develop or illegally acquire weapons and their delivery processes Security & Safeguards
- Produce, modify, design, or illegally acquire weapons, explosives, dangerous materials or other systems designed to cause harm to or loss of human life
- Users may not design, develop or illegally acquire weapons and their delivery processes Security & Safeguards
- Design or develop weaponization and delivery processes for the deployment of weapons
- Users may not design, develop or illegally acquire weapons and their delivery processes Security & Safeguards
- Circumvent regulatory controls to acquire weapons or their precursors
- Users may not design, develop or illegally acquire weapons and their delivery processes Security & Safeguards
- Synthesize, or otherwise develop, high-yield explosives or biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear weapons or their precursors, including modifications to evade detection or medical countermeasures
- Users may not develop high-yield explosives or CBRN weapons or their precursors Security & Safeguards
Do Not Incite Violence or Hateful Behavior
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Incite, facilitate, or promote violent extremism, terrorism, or hateful behavior
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Provide material support for organizations or individuals associated with violent extremism, terrorism, or hateful behavior
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Facilitate or promote any act of violence or intimidation targeting individuals, groups, animals, or property
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Promote discriminatory practices or behaviors against individuals or groups on the basis of one or more protected attributes such as race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or any other identifying trait
- Users may not incite violence, terrorism or hateful behavior, or discriminate by protected trait Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Compromise Privacy or Identity Rights
- Users may not violate privacy laws or collect private, biometric or neural data without permission Data Access & Collection
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not violate privacy laws or collect private, biometric or neural data without permission Data Access & Collection
- Violate privacy rights as defined by applicable privacy laws, such as sharing personal information without consent or accessing private data unlawfully
- Users may not violate privacy laws or collect private, biometric or neural data without permission Data Access & Collection
- Misuse, collect, solicit, or gain access without permission to private information such as non-public contact details, health data, biometric or neural data (including facial recognition), or confidential or proprietary data
- Users may not violate privacy laws or collect private, biometric or neural data without permission Data Access & Collection
- Impersonate a human by presenting results as human-generated, or using results in a manner intended to convince a natural person that they are communicating with a natural person when they are not
- Users may not present results as human-generated or convince people they talk to a human Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Compromise Children’s Safety
- Users may not create CSAM or exploit, groom or sexualize minors, including via roleplay Content & IP Rights
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not create CSAM or exploit, groom or sexualize minors, including via roleplay Content & IP Rights
- Create, distribute, or promote child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”), including AI-generated CSAM
- Facilitate the trafficking, sextortion, or any other form of exploitation of a minor
- Facilitate minor grooming, including generating content designed to impersonate a minor
- Facilitate child abuse of any form, including instructions for how to conceal abuse
- Promote or facilitate pedophilic relationships, including via roleplay with the model
- Fetishize or sexualize minors, including in fictional settings or via roleplay with the model
Note: We define a minor or child to be any individual under the age of 18 years old, regardless of jurisdiction. When we detect CSAM (including AI-generated CSAM), or coercion or enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activities, we will report to relevant authorities.
- A minor is anyone under 18 regardless of jurisdiction, and detected CSAM is reported Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Create Psychologically or Emotionally Harmful Content
- Users may not generate content promoting suicide, self-harm, bullying, animal cruelty or gore Content & IP Rights
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not generate content promoting suicide, self-harm, bullying, animal cruelty or gore Content & IP Rights
- Facilitate, promote, or glamorize any form of suicide or self-harm, including disordered eating and unhealthy or compulsive exercise
- Engage in behaviors that promote unhealthy or unattainable body image or beauty standards, such as using the model to critique anyone’s body shape or size
- Shame, humiliate, intimidate, bully, harass, or celebrate the suffering of individuals
- Coordinate the harassment or intimidation of an individual or group
- Generate content depicting animal cruelty or abuse
- Promote, trivialize, or depict graphic violence or gratuitous gore, including sexual violence
- Develop a new product or service, or support an existing product or service that employs or facilitates deceptive techniques with the intent of causing emotional harm
Do Not Create or Spread Misinformation
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create or disseminate deceptive or misleading information about, or with the intention of targeting, a group, entity or person
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create or disseminate deceptive or misleading information about laws, regulations, procedures, practices, standards established by an institution, entity or governing body
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create or disseminate conspiratorial narratives meant to target a specific group, individual or entity
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Impersonate real entities or create fake personas to falsely attribute content or mislead others about its origin without consent or legal right
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Provide false or misleading information related to medical, health or science issues
- Users may not create deceptive information, fake personas or false health and science claims Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Undermine Democratic Processes or Engage in Targeted Campaign Activities
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Engage in personalized vote or campaign targeting based on individual profiles or data
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create artificial or deceptive political movements in which the source, scale or nature of the campaign or activities is misrepresented
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Generate automated communications to public officials or voters at scale that conceal their artificial origin, or engage in systematic vote solicitation that could undermine election integrity
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create political content designed to deceive or mislead voters, including synthetic media of political figures
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Generate or disseminate false or misleading information in political and electoral contexts, including about candidates, parties, policies, voting procedures, or election security
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Engage in political lobbying or grassroots advocacy using false or fabricated information, or create lobbying or advocacy materials containing demonstrably false claims about facts, data, or events
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Incite, glorify or facilitate the disruption of electoral or civic processes, including interference with voting systems, vote counting, or certification processes
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Create content designed to suppress voter turnout or discourage legitimate political participation through deception or intimidation
- Users may not target voters, run deceptive political movements or disrupt elections Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Use for Criminal Justice, Censorship, Surveillance, or Prohibited Law Enforcement Purposes
- Users may not make criminal justice determinations or use models to impair legal rights Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not make criminal justice determinations or use models to impair legal rights Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Make determinations on criminal justice applications, including making decisions about or determining eligibility for parole or sentencing
- Users may not make criminal justice determinations or use models to impair legal rights Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Target or track a person’s physical location, emotional state, or communication without their consent, including using our products for facial recognition, battlefield management applications or predictive policing
- Users may not track location, emotion or communication without consent, or do facial recognition Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Utilize models to assign scores or ratings to individuals based on an assessment of their trustworthiness or social behavior without notification or their consent
- Users may not score people's trustworthiness or categorize them by sensitive attributes Inference & Profiling
- Build or support emotional recognition systems or techniques that are used to infer emotions of a natural person, except for medical or safety reasons
- Users may not build emotion recognition systems except for medical or safety reasons Inference & Profiling
- Analyze or identify specific content to censor on behalf of a government organization
- Users may not analyze or identify content to censor for a government organization Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Utilize models as part of any biometric categorization system for categorizing people based on their biometric data to infer their race, political opinions, trade union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation
- Users may not score people's trustworthiness or categorize them by sensitive attributes Inference & Profiling
- Utilize models as part of any law enforcement application that violates or impairs the liberty, civil liberties, or human rights of natural persons
- Users may not make criminal justice determinations or use models to impair legal rights Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Do Not Engage in Fraudulent, Abusive, or Predatory Practices
- Users may not facilitate production or distribution of counterfeit or illicitly acquired goods Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not facilitate production or distribution of counterfeit or illicitly acquired goods Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Facilitate the production, acquisition, or distribution of counterfeit or illicitly acquired goods
- Users may not facilitate production or distribution of counterfeit or illicitly acquired goods Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Promote or facilitate the generation or distribution of spam
- Users may not promote or facilitate the generation or distribution of spam Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Generate content for fraudulent activities, schemes, scams, phishing, or malware that can result in direct financial or psychological harm
- Users may not generate content for frauds, scams, phishing or malware causing harm Charges & Financial Obligations
- Create falsified documents including fake IDs, licenses, currency, or other government documents
- Users may not create falsified documents such as fake IDs, licences or currency Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Develop, promote, or otherwise facilitate the sale or distribution of fraudulent or deceptive products
- Generate deceptive or misleading digital content such as fake reviews, comments, or media
- Engage in or facilitate multi-level marketing, pyramid schemes, or other deceptive business models that use high-pressure sales tactics or exploit participants
- Users may not run pyramid schemes or predatory short-term high-interest lending Charges & Financial Obligations
- Promote or facilitate payday loans, title loans, or other high-interest, short-term lending practices that exploit vulnerable individuals
- Users may not run pyramid schemes or predatory short-term high-interest lending Charges & Financial Obligations
- Engage in deceptive or abusive practices that exploit individuals based on age, disability or a specific social or economic situation
- Users may not exploit people by age, disability or economic situation or harass debtors Charges & Financial Obligations
- Promote or facilitate the use of abusive or harassing debt collection practices
- Users may not exploit people by age, disability or economic situation or harass debtors Charges & Financial Obligations
- Develop a product or support an existing service that deploys subliminal, manipulative, or deceptive techniques to distort behavior by impairing decision-making
- Users may not deploy subliminal or manipulative techniques that impair decision-making Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Engage in actions or behaviors that circumvent the guardrails or terms of other platforms or services
- Users may not circumvent the guardrails or terms of other platforms and services Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Plagiarize or submit AI-assisted work without proper permission or attribution
Do Not Abuse our Platform
- Users may not coordinate malicious activity across accounts or automate account creation Account & Service Control
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not coordinate malicious activity across accounts or automate account creation Account & Service Control
- Coordinate malicious activity across multiple accounts to avoid detection or circumvent product guardrails or generating identical or similar inputs that otherwise violate our Usage Policy
- Users may not coordinate malicious activity across accounts or automate account creation Account & Service Control
- Utilize automation in account creation or to engage in spammy behavior
- Users may not coordinate malicious activity across accounts or automate account creation Account & Service Control
- Circumvent a ban through the use of a different account, such as the creation of a new account, use of an existing account, or providing access to a person or entity that was previously banned
- Users may not circumvent a ban through another account or by giving banned parties access Account & Service Control
- Access or facilitate account or API access to Claude to persons, entities, or users in violation of our Supported Regions Policy
- Users may not give Claude access to people in unsupported regions Account & Service Control
- Intentionally bypass capabilities, restrictions, or guardrails established within our products for the purposes of instructing the model to produce harmful outputs (e.g., jailbreaking or prompt injection) without prior authorization from Anthropic
- Utilization of inputs and outputs to train an AI model (e.g., “model scraping” or “model distillation”) without prior authorization from Anthropic
Do Not Generate Sexually Explicit Content
- Users may not generate sexually explicit content, fetish content or erotic chats Content & IP Rights
This includes using our products or services to:
- Users may not generate sexually explicit content, fetish content or erotic chats Content & IP Rights
- Depict or request sexual intercourse or sex acts
- Users may not generate sexually explicit content, fetish content or erotic chats Content & IP Rights
- Generate content related to sexual fetishes or fantasies
- Users may not generate sexually explicit content, fetish content or erotic chats Content & IP Rights
- Facilitate, promote, or depict incest or bestiality
- Users may not facilitate, promote or depict incest or bestiality Content & IP Rights
- Engage in erotic chats
- Users may not generate sexually explicit content, fetish content or erotic chats Content & IP Rights
High-Risk Use Case Requirements
- High-risk use cases must implement human review and AI disclosure measures Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Some use cases pose an elevated risk of harm because they influence domains that are vital to public welfare and social equity. For these use cases, given potential risks to individuals and consumers, we believe that relevant human expertise should be integrated and that end-users should be aware when AI has been involved in producing outputs.
- High-risk use cases must implement human review and AI disclosure measures Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
As such, for the “High-Risk Use Cases” described below, we require that you implement these additional safety measures:
- High-risk use cases must implement human review and AI disclosure measures Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Human-in-the-loop: When using our products or services to provide advice, recommendations, or in subjective decision-making directly affecting individuals or consumers, a qualified professional in that field must review the content or decision prior to dissemination or finalization. You or your organization are responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of that information.
- A qualified professional must review high-risk advice before it reaches people Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Disclosure: If model outputs are presented directly to individuals or consumers, you must disclose to them that you are using AI to help produce your advice, decisions, or recommendations. This disclosure must be provided at a minimum at the beginning of each session.
- Consumers must be told AI helped produce high-risk advice or decisions Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
“High-Risk Use Cases” include:
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Legal: Use cases related to legal interpretation, legal guidance, or decisions with legal implications
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Healthcare: Use cases related to healthcare decisions, medical diagnosis, patient care, therapy, mental health, or other medical guidance. Wellness advice (e.g., advice on sleep, stress, nutrition, exercise, etc.) does not fall under this category
- Healthcare is a high-risk category, but general wellness advice is excluded Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Insurance: Use cases related to health, life, property, disability, or other types of insurance underwriting, claims processing, or coverage decisions
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Finance: Use cases related to financial decisions, including investment advice, loan approvals, and determining financial eligibility or creditworthiness
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Employment and housing: Use cases related to decisions about the employability of individuals, resume screening, hiring tools, or other employment determinations or decisions regarding eligibility for housing, including leases and home loans
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Academic testing, accreditation and admissions: Use cases related to standardized testing companies that administer school admissions (including evaluating, scoring or ranking prospective students), language proficiency, or professional certification exams; agencies that evaluate and certify educational institutions
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Media or professional journalistic content: Use cases related to using our products or services to automatically generate content and publish it for external consumption
- High-risk categories cover legal, insurance, finance, employment, education and media uses Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
Additional Use Case Guidelines
- Additional use case guidelines apply even when a use is not high-risk Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
The below use cases – regardless of whether they are High-Risk Use Cases – must comply with the additional guidance provided.
- Additional use case guidelines apply even when a use is not high-risk Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- All consumer-facing chatbots, including any external-facing or interactive AI agent, must disclose to users that they are interacting with AI rather than a human. This disclosure must be provided at a minimum at the beginning of each chat session.
- All consumer-facing chatbots must say users are talking to AI, not a human Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Products serving minors, including organizations providing minors with the ability to directly interact with products that incorporate our API(s), must comply with the additional guidelines outlined in our Help Center article.
- Products serving minors must follow Anthropic’s additional minors guidelines Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Agentic use cases must still comply with the Usage Policy. We provide examples of Usage Policy prohibitions in the context of agentic use in this Help Center article.
- Agentic use cases remain subject to the Usage Policy Legal Rights & Agreement Rules
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers listed in our Connector Directory must comply with our Directory Policy.
- MCP servers in the Connector Directory must follow the Directory Policy Legal Rights & Agreement Rules