The policy prohibits using Cohere's AI to provide meaningful assistance to anyone attempting to develop biological, chemical, nuclear, or radiological weapons capable of causing mass casualties.
This analysis describes what Cohere's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The policy targets content that provides 'serious uplift,' meaning substantive technical assistance, rather than broadly prohibiting any discussion, which introduces an interpretive threshold that operators and compliance teams may need to operationalize in their content filtering approaches.
Interpretive note: The 'serious uplift' threshold requires qualitative judgment and may be applied inconsistently across operators without further definitional guidance from Cohere.
Users and operators cannot use Cohere's services to generate technical guidance, synthesis routes, or other substantive assistance for CBRN weapons development, regardless of stated purpose or context.
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"Do not use Cohere's services to provide serious uplift to those seeking to create biological, chemical, nuclear, or radiological weapons with the potential for mass casualties.Excerpt from Cohere's Responsible Use Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages US export control law (EAR, ITAR), the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, Chemical Weapons Convention implementing legislation, and equivalent frameworks in other jurisdictions.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
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The policy targets content that provides 'serious uplift,' meaning substantive technical assistance, rather than broadly prohibiting any discussion, which introduces an interpretive threshold that operators and compliance teams may need to operationalize in their content filtering approaches.
Users and operators cannot use Cohere's services to generate technical guidance, synthesis routes, or other substantive assistance for CBRN weapons development, regardless of stated purpose or context.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 141 platforms. See the full comparison.
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