AI Safety Best Practices for Production Applications

Building AI-powered features is exciting, but shipping them responsibly requires thoughtful safety measures. Here's our comprehensive guide to AI safety in production.

The Safety Stack

Think of AI safety as layers:

1. Input Filtering - Catch problems before they reach the model

2. Model Selection - Choose models with built-in safeguards

3. Output Filtering - Review generated content before serving

4. Monitoring - Detect issues in production

5. Response Plan - Handle incidents gracefully

Input Filtering

Prompt Injection Prevention

// Bad: Direct user input to model
const result = await model.run({ prompt: userInput });

// Good: Sanitize and validate input
function sanitizePrompt(input) {
  // Remove potential injection attempts
  const sanitized = input
    .replace(/ignore (previous|all) instructions/gi, '')
    .replace(/system:/gi, '')
    .slice(0, 1000); // Limit length
  
  return sanitized;
}

const result = await model.run({ 
  prompt: sanitizePrompt(userInput) 
});

Content Policy Checks

// Pre-check prompts against your content policy
async function checkContentPolicy(prompt) {
  const violations = [];
  
  // Check for prohibited content
  const prohibitedPatterns = [
    /violence against/i,
    /illegal (drugs|weapons)/i,
    // Add your patterns
  ];
  
  for (const pattern of prohibitedPatterns) {
    if (pattern.test(prompt)) {
      violations.push(pattern.toString());
    }
  }
  
  return {
    allowed: violations.length === 0,
    violations
  };
}

Choosing Safe Models

Abstrakt provides safety metadata for every model:

const model = await abstrakt.models.get('flux-schnell');

console.log(model.safety);
// {
//   nsfwFilter: true,
//   contentPolicy: 'strict',
//   inputValidation: true
// }

Model Safety Comparison

Output Filtering

Automated Content Review

async function generateWithSafetyCheck(prompt) {
  const result = await abstrakt.run('flux-schnell', { prompt });
  
  // Run safety check on output
  const safetyCheck = await abstrakt.safety.check(result.image);
  
  if (!safetyCheck.safe) {
    console.log('Content flagged:', safetyCheck.reasons);
    
    // Options:
    // 1. Regenerate with modified prompt
    // 2. Return placeholder
    // 3. Request human review
    
    return {
      success: false,
      reason: 'Content did not pass safety review'
    };
  }
  
  return { success: true, result };
}

Human-in-the-Loop

For high-stakes applications, add human review:

async function generateWithHumanReview(prompt) {
  const result = await abstrakt.run('flux-schnell', { prompt });
  
  // Queue for review if confidence is low
  if (result.safetyScore < 0.9) {
    await reviewQueue.add({
      content: result,
      prompt,
      userId: currentUser.id
    });
    
    return { 
      status: 'pending_review',
      message: 'Your content is being reviewed'
    };
  }
  
  return result;
}

Production Monitoring

Real-time Alerts

// Set up monitoring for safety events
abstrakt.on('safety_event', async (event) => {
  await slack.send({
    channel: '#ai-safety-alerts',
    text: `Safety event: ${event.type} - ${event.details}`
  });
  
  // Log for analysis
  await analytics.track('safety_event', event);
});

Usage Patterns

Monitor for abuse patterns:

Incident Response

Prepare Your Playbook

1. Detection: How will you know there's a problem?

2. Assessment: How severe is it?

3. Containment: How do you stop the bleeding?

4. Communication: Who needs to know?

5. Resolution: How do you fix it?

6. Review: What can you learn?

Kill Switch

// Always have a way to disable AI features quickly
const AI_ENABLED = process.env.AI_ENABLED !== 'false';

async function generateContent(prompt) {
  if (!AI_ENABLED) {
    return { 
      error: 'AI features temporarily disabled',
      fallback: true 
    };
  }
  
  return abstrakt.run('flux-schnell', { prompt });
}

Conclusion

AI safety isn't a checkbox—it's an ongoing commitment. Build these practices into your development process from day one, and you'll ship products that users can trust.

Need help implementing safety measures? Our team is here to help at safety@abstrakt.one.