claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix False-positive AUP refusal on legitimate consumer email follow-up [1 participants]

Exact error

API Error: Claude Code is unable to respond to this request, which appears to violate our Usage Policy (https://www.anthropic.com/legal/aup). Please double press esc to edit your last message or start a new session for Claude Code to assist with a different task. If you are seeing this refusal repeatedly, try running /model claude-sonnet-4-20250514 to switch models. API Error Claude Code unable to respond Usage Policy false positive AUP refusal consumer email follow-up classifier dental medical inquiry

TL;DR

The issue can be mitigated by adjusting the email content to avoid potential false-positive triggers, such as removing medical information, rephrasing sensitive questions, and altering the inline-answer form layout.

Guidance

• Review the email content for any medical information or sensitive questions that may be triggering the Usage Policy refusal, and consider rephrasing or removing them.
• Consider using a different format for the questions, such as a numbered list instead of an inline-answer form layout, to avoid triggering the classifier.
• Test the email content with a different model, such as claude-sonnet-4-20250514, to see if the issue persists.
• Provide feedback to the developers to surface the specific trigger in the refusal message, allowing users to adjust their content accordingly.

Example

No code snippet is provided as it is not explicitly supported by the issue.

Notes

The issue may be specific to the claude-opus-4-7 model or the Explanatory output style, and further testing may be needed to determine the root cause.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Adjust the email content to avoid potential false-positive triggers, as the issue is likely due to the classifier's sensitivity to certain patterns in the email content.