How to Fix ChatGPT's ‘Error in Moderation’ 

Revise your prompt, refresh the page, or try signing out and back in

By
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Writer
  • University of Pune (India)
Saikat has been a technology writer for 12+ years. His writing has appeared at MakeUseOf, OnlineTechTips, GoSkills, and many others.
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Published on July 1, 2024
AI & Science

The "Error in Moderation" message can appear at any time when you use ChatGPT. This article looks at the reasons behind ChatGPT's "Error in Moderation" message and offers solutions to fix the issue.

What Is the ‘Error in Moderation’ Issue in ChatGPT?

"Error in Moderation" typically pops up when ChatGPT's safety filters flag your prompt or the conversation as potentially inappropriate. However, the fault can also lie with the OpenAI servers or any other misconfigurations on the part of OpenAI.

Broadly, the reasons for the "Error in Moderation" error can be due to these conflicts and more:

  • Ambiguous prompts can lead to confusing responses.
  • ChatGPT can have difficulty handling discussions about sensitive subjects.
  • Struggles with grasping the overall context of conversations.
  • Users might intentionally trick the LLM into breaking the rules.
  • Challenges with understanding newly popular words or slang.
  • Occasional creation of inappropriate content unintentionally.
  • Losing track of the conversation topic in extended chats.
  • Server outages affecting ChatGPT's broader availability.

The moderation system is designed to be compliant with OpenAI's usage guidelines. But sometimes, it errs on the side of caution and mistakenly flags harmless content. These false positives can disrupt the flow of conversations with the chatbot and be extremely frustrating.

How to Fix the ‘Error in Moderation’ Issue in ChatGPT

When you know your prompt is perfectly valid, take the following steps to sidestep the "Error in Moderation" issues.

  1. Revise your input prompt. Reword your prompt to remove potentially offensive language, ensuring clarity and conciseness. Use neutral language and break more extended conversations into smaller chunks. Follow best practices for writing effective prompts on ChatGPT to help the bot better understand your intent.

  2. Regenerate the response. Select the Regenerate icon and see if feeding ChatGPT the same prompt again helps it recover. 

  3. Refresh or start a new chat. Refreshing the page or beginning a new chat session can sometimes solve temporary glitches behind the moderation error. You can also log out and log in again into ChatGPT. 

  4. Clear your browser's cache and cookies. Your browser's data can create conflicts with your browsing session. This may not directly impact the moderation error, but it can help fix general connectivity or session issues.

  5. Wait and try again. If the issue persists, it may be due to server-side problems. Check the status of OpenAI servers. Wait a few minutes and then retry your request, as OpenAI usually resolves such issues quickly.

  6. Contact OpenAI Support. If the "Error in Moderation" issue reappears, contact OpenAI's support team for assistance. They can investigate and provide specific guidance.

  7. Look at ChatGPT alternatives. If moderation issues continue, consider trying other ChatGPT alternatives like Gemini, Perplexity, or Claude, which might have less stringent moderation filters.

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