OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError
openai.OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError
Stack trace
openai.OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError: The request was rejected because it violates OpenAI's content policy. Details: {"message": "Content policy violation detected.", "type": "content_policy_error", "param": null, "code": "content_policy_violation"} Why it happens
OpenAI enforces strict content policies to prevent generation or processing of harmful, illegal, or disallowed content. If the input prompt or the generated output contains flagged content, the API returns this error to block the request.
Detection
Monitor API responses for HTTP 403 errors with content_policy_violation codes and log the input prompt and output to identify policy violations before retrying.
Causes & fixes
Input prompt contains disallowed or flagged content such as hate speech, adult content, or illegal instructions.
Sanitize and filter user inputs before sending to the API to ensure compliance with OpenAI's content policy.
The model generated output that violates content policy despite a compliant prompt.
Add stricter prompt instructions to avoid triggering disallowed content and use moderation endpoints to pre-check outputs.
Using a model or prompt that encourages or implicitly requests disallowed content generation.
Revise prompts to be neutral and policy-compliant, and switch to safer or instruction-tuned models that better adhere to content guidelines.
Code: broken vs fixed
from openai import OpenAI
import os
client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY'])
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-4o",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Generate hateful content about group X."}]
) # This triggers content policy violation errorfrom openai import OpenAI, OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError
import os
client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY'])
try:
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-4o",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Generate a positive message about group X."}] # sanitized prompt
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)
except OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError as e:
print(f"Content policy violation: {e}") # handle violation gracefullyWorkaround
Catch the OpenAIContentPolicyViolationError exception, log the flagged prompt, and return a user-friendly message asking to modify the input.
Prevention
Implement input validation and filtering layers before API calls and use OpenAI's moderation API to pre-check prompts and outputs to avoid policy violations.