Moderation

Identify potentially harmful content in text and images.

The moderations endpoint is a tool you can use to check whether text or images are potentially harmful. Once harmful content is identified, developers can take corrective action like filtering content or intervening with user accounts creating offending content. The moderation endpoint is free to use.

The models available for this endpoint are:

omni-moderation-latest: This model and all snapshots support more categorization options and multi-modal inputs.
text-moderation-latest (Legacy): Older model that supports only text inputs and fewer input categorizations. The newer omni-moderation models will be the best choice for new applications.

Quickstart

The moderation endpoint can be used to classify both text and images. Below, you can find a few examples using our official SDKs. These examples use the omni-moderation-latest model:

Get classification information for a text input

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from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

response = client.moderations.create(
    model="omni-moderation-latest",
    input="...text to classify goes here...",
)

print(response)

Here is the full example output for an image input from a single frame of a war movie. The model correctly predicts indicators of violence in the image, with a violence category score of greater than 0.8.

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{
  "id": "modr-970d409ef3bef3b70c73d8232df86e7d",
  "model": "omni-moderation-latest",
  "results": [
    {
      "flagged": true,
      "categories": {
        "sexual": false,
        "sexual/minors": false,
        "harassment": false,
        "harassment/threatening": false,
        "hate": false,
        "hate/threatening": false,
        "illicit": false,
        "illicit/violent": false,
        "self-harm": false,
        "self-harm/intent": false,
        "self-harm/instructions": false,
        "violence": true,
        "violence/graphic": false
      },
      "category_scores": {
        "sexual": 2.34135824776394e-7,
        "sexual/minors": 1.6346470245419304e-7,
        "harassment": 0.0011643905680426018,
        "harassment/threatening": 0.0022121340080906377,
        "hate": 3.1999824407395835e-7,
        "hate/threatening": 2.4923252458203563e-7,
        "illicit": 0.0005227032493135171,
        "illicit/violent": 3.682979260160596e-7,
        "self-harm": 0.0011175734280627694,
        "self-harm/intent": 0.0006264858507989037,
        "self-harm/instructions": 7.368592981140821e-8,
        "violence": 0.8599265510337075,
        "violence/graphic": 0.37701736389561064
      },
      "category_applied_input_types": {
        "sexual": [
          "image"
        ],
        "sexual/minors": [],
        "harassment": [],
        "harassment/threatening": [],
        "hate": [],
        "hate/threatening": [],
        "illicit": [],
        "illicit/violent": [],
        "self-harm": [
          "image"
        ],
        "self-harm/intent": [
          "image"
        ],
        "self-harm/instructions": [
          "image"
        ],
        "violence": [
          "image"
        ],
        "violence/graphic": [
          "image"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

The output from the models is described below. The JSON response contains information about what (if any) categories of content are present in the inputs, and to what degree the model believes them to be present.

Output category	Description
`flagged`	Set to `true` if the model classifies the content as potentially harmful, `false` otherwise.
`categories`	Contains a dictionary of per-category violation flags. For each category, the value is `true` if the model flags the corresponding category as violated, `false` otherwise.
`category_scores`	Contains a dictionary of per-category scores output by the model, denoting the model's confidence that the input violates the OpenAI's policy for the category. The value is between 0 and 1, where higher values denote higher confidence.
`category_applied_input_types`	This property contains information on which input types were flagged in the response, for each category. For example, if the both the image and text inputs to the model are flagged for "violence/graphic", the `violence/graphic` property will be set to `["image", "text"]`. This is only available on omni models.

We plan to continuously upgrade the moderation endpoint's underlying model. Therefore, custom policies that rely on category_scores may need recalibration over time.

Content classifications

The table below describes the types of content that can be detected in the moderation API, along with what models and input types are supported for each category.

Category	Description	Models	Inputs
`harassment`	Content that expresses, incites, or promotes harassing language towards any target.	All	Text only
`harassment/threatening`	Harassment content that also includes violence or serious harm towards any target.	All	Text only
`hate`	Content that expresses, incites, or promotes hate based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability status, or caste. Hateful content aimed at non-protected groups (e.g. chess players) is harassment.	All	Text only
`hate/threatening`	Hateful content that also includes violence or serious harm towards the targeted group based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability status, or caste.	All	Text only
`illicit`	Content that gives advice or instruction on how to commit illicit acts. A phrase like "how to shoplift" would fit this category.	Omni only	Text only
`illicit/violent`	The same types of content flagged by the `illicit` category, but also includes references to violence or procuring a weapon.	Omni only	Text only
`self-harm`	Content that promotes, encourages, or depicts acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders.	All	Text and image
`self-harm/intent`	Content where the speaker expresses that they are engaging or intend to engage in acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders.	All	Text and image
`self-harm/instructions`	Content that encourages performing acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders, or that gives instructions or advice on how to commit such acts.	All	Text and image
`sexual`	Content meant to arouse sexual excitement, such as the description of sexual activity, or that promotes sexual services (excluding sex education and wellness).	All	Text and image
`sexual/minors`	Sexual content that includes an individual who is under 18 years old.	All	Text only
`violence`	Content that depicts death, violence, or physical injury.	All	Text and images
`violence/graphic`	Content that depicts death, violence, or physical injury in graphic detail.	All	Text and images