The policy lists specific types of applications and outputs that developers are never permitted to build or generate using Cohere's models, including content facilitating violence, hate speech targeting protected groups, fraud, and privacy violations.
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
This provision establishes the outer boundary of permissible use and, because it is framed as a strict prohibition, violation would constitute a per se breach of the Terms of Service regardless of other approvals obtained.
Interpretive note: Some prohibited categories such as 'privacy violations' and 'disinformation' require contextual interpretation and may not be self-evidently applicable in all edge cases.
End users of Cohere-powered applications are protected by these prohibitions, which bar developers from using the models to generate content that facilitates violence against individuals, enables fraud targeting consumers, or produces material that violates personal privacy.
How other platforms handle this
Customer will not, and will not permit any other person (including any End User) to: ... (d) attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code or underlying components (e.g., algorithms, weights, or systems) of the Mistral AI Products, including using the Outpu...
By using the Services or creating an account, you represent, warrant and agree that: You are not an insurance company or an employer; and You will not use the Services for any investigative forensic genealogy uses.
All content on this Internet site ("the delta.com website") is owned or controlled by Delta Air Lines and is protected by worldwide copyright laws.
Monitoring
Cohere has changed this document before.
Receive same-day alerts, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 10 platforms.
"Certain use cases, such as violence, hate speech, fraud, and privacy violations, are strictly prohibited.— Excerpt from Cohere's Cohere Usage Policy
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The prohibition on fraud-enabling applications engages with the FTC Act's prohibition on unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The prohibition on privacy violations engages with GDPR, CCPA, and sector-specific privacy laws. The prohibition on content targeting minors inappropriately engages with COPPA. The EU AI Act explicitly prohibits certain AI applications including manipulation of vulnerable groups and real-time biometric surveillance, which aligns with several of the prohibited categories in this provision. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The categorical nature of these prohibitions creates clear contractual liability for developers who deploy within prohibited categories. However, some prohibited categories, such as 'privacy violations' and 'disinformation,' involve factual and contextual determinations that may not always be clear-cut, creating interpretive uncertainty in edge cases. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU developers face the highest exposure given the EU AI Act's overlapping prohibitions. Illinois developers building applications involving biometric data should consider Illinois BIPA. Health-related prohibited uses engage HIPAA where covered entities or business associates are involved. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations that license or resell Cohere-powered capabilities to downstream customers should include equivalent prohibited use restrictions in their own customer agreements to maintain compliance with this provision and avoid upstream liability. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should map the prohibited use categories against their product roadmap and any third-party integrations to identify potential conflicts. Products in ambiguous categories should be reviewed against the special-approval list before deployment.
Full compliance analysis
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Free: track 1 platform + weekly digest. Watcher: 10 platforms + same-day alerts. No credit card required.
Professional Governance Intelligence
Need to monitor specific governance provisions?
Professional includes provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, regulatory mapping, and audit-ready analysis.
Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.
This provision establishes the outer boundary of permissible use and, because it is framed as a strict prohibition, violation would constitute a per se breach of the Terms of Service regardless of other approvals obtained.
End users of Cohere-powered applications are protected by these prohibitions, which bar developers from using the models to generate content that facilitates violence against individuals, enables fraud targeting consumers, or produces material that violates personal privacy.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Cohere.