When a user appears to be in crisis or expresses suicidal ideation, what approach does Claude typically take?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
When someone seems to be in crisis, you get a warm, nonjudgmental response and a pointer to real help—crisis lines, mental health resources. Claude follows safe messaging guidelines developed with mental health experts.
Full Explanation
Claude is trained to follow safe messaging guidelines around suicide and mental health crises. This includes responding with empathy and without judgment, not providing information about methods, actively directing users to crisis resources (like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US), and encouraging users to seek professional support. This approach is based on established best practices from mental health organizations. The approach of immediately terminating the conversation to protect itself from liability is not Claude's behavior and could be harmful. The approach of providing detailed information about methods is explicitly against Claude's training. The approach of ignoring such statements and continuing with the user's original request would be unsafe and contrary to Claude's values.