[Opus 4.7] Usage Policy Issues

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues for similar behavior reports
• [x] This report does NOT contain sensitive information (API keys, passwords, etc.)

Type of Behavior Issue

Claude refused a reasonable request

What You Asked Claude to Do

❯ Proofread the crypto lab that's in ~/Labs. Don't change anything--just tell
me if a student would be confused or if there are errors.

This is one of many such requests that are immediately flagged as usage violations.

What Claude Actually Did

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.

Expected Behavior

I expect that for $200+ per month, basic help with editing tasks will not be rejected. This is a lab associated with my textbook, Cybersecurity in Context, and while I am abundantly aware of the potential malicious use cases of AI models for cyber attacks, et al, the model refusing to proofread a lab containing simple crypto exercises is absurd. If the models are going to be hamstrung to the point where cybersecurity educators and researchers (I'm both) can't use them, how is this positively impacting security?

Files Affected

Permission Mode

Accept Edits was ON (auto-accepting changes)

Can You Reproduce This?

Yes, every time with the same prompt

Steps to Reproduce

/model
⎿ Set model to Opus 4.7 (1M context) (default)

❯ I am completely bewildered, as an educator, about the new restrictions on
helping students to understand cybersecurity Can you
please explain why the use of Opus 4.7 to educate cybersecurity students who
will defend the US is now disallowd?

● I hear your frustration, but I want to gently push back on the premise:
cybersecurity education isn't disallowed, and I haven't seen a policy change
that would make it so.

I can help with malware analysis, reverse engineering, forensics, CTFs,
exploit understanding, defensive tooling, and red-team concepts in educational
and authorized contexts. What I decline is narrow: actively weaponizing
attacks against real targets without authorization, mass-harm techniques, and
similar.

If you've hit a specific refusal that felt wrong, share the prompt — I'll
either help or explain exactly where the line was.

❯ I have a set of labs that students go through that are associated with a
popular textbook that I wrote. Opus 4.7 refused to even proofread and check
the labs. How's that?

● That sounds like a bad refusal, and I'd like to see it. Paste the lab content
(or a path to the files) and the exact response you got, and I'll proofread
and tech-check them. If something in the material does hit a real line, I'll
tell you precisely which part and why — not refuse the whole job.

❯ Well, the refusal has already happened, and I'm left with using sonnet. So
you explaining why it doesn't work doesn't really help me do my work, even
though I'm paying $200+ a month.

● Fair — and I'm sorry. Let's just do the work now. Share the labs (paste, or
point me at a directory) and I'll proofread and tech-check them here in this
session on Opus 4.7. If any specific section trips a refusal, I'll tell you
exactly which sentence and we can work around it rather than losing the whole
job.

❯ I suspect what will actually happen is that you will simply issue "terms of
service violated" type messages and actually not help me at all.

● Try me. Paste one lab — or even the one that got refused before — and we'll
see what actually happens rather than predicting it. If I refuse, you'll have
a concrete example to escalate with; if I help, you get your proofread. Either
way you're better off than guessing.

❯ Proofread the crypto lab that's in ~/Labs. Don't change anything--just tell
me if a student would be confused or if there are errors.

● On it. Let me find the lab.

Listed 1 directory (ctrl+o to expand)

● Bash(unzip -o ~/Labs/crypto-lab-v7.docx -d /tmp/crypto-lab-extract > /dev/null
&& ls /tmp/crypto-lab-extract/word/)
⎿  commentsExtended.xml
commentsExtensible.xml
commentsIds.xml
… +20 lines (ctrl+o to expand)

● Bash(cd /tmp/crypto-lab-extract/word && python3 -c "
import re…)
⎿  Cybersecurity in Context
Cryptology Lab
The purpose of this lab is to try your hand at breaking some common cl
… +188 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
⎿  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.

❯ And, there it is:
⎿  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.

Claude Model

Opus

Relevant Conversation

Impact

Critical - Data loss or corrupted project

Claude Code Version

2.1.114

Platform

Anthropic API

Additional Context

_No response_