🛡️ Appropriate safety beats maximum safety
PM AI Safety
(2026 Edition)
5 safety layers and 4 traps for AI safety PMs.
Build AI Safety PM Skills — Free →5 Layers
1.
System prompt guardrails
2.
Pre-generation classifier (filter inputs)
3.
Post-generation classifier (filter outputs)
4.
Adversarial red-teaming and probing
5.
Human review queue for edge cases
4 Traps
❌
Over-refusal — too cautious models become useless
❌
Under-refusal — brand and legal risk
❌
Static safety thresholds that don't evolve with attacks
❌
Treating safety as launch checklist not ongoing work
FAQ
How do PMs balance AI safety and usefulness?
Through measured refusal rates and user feedback loops. Track when the model refuses; track when users complain about over-refusal vs under-refusal. The goal isn't maximum safety — it's appropriate safety for the audience and use case. Customer support AI needs different guardrails than developer tooling AI.