Skip to content

Calypso AI is now part of F5

Read More
Contact
Blog
03 Oct 2024

Building Toward Precision: Why Over-Filtering AI is a Costly Mistake

Building Toward Precision: Why Over-Filtering AI is a Costly Mistake

Building Toward Precision: Why Over-Filtering AI is a Costly Mistake

When organizations start integrating generative AI (GenAI) into their workflows, there's a natural concern around the content that the AI models generate, as well as the real and potential risks associated with using this young technology. Some vendors address these concerns by promoting security tools that aggressively block anything and everything that might be remotely questionable in a prompt to or response from a model. But here’s the reality: That’s a terrible idea.  Blocking all content that doesn’t meet a rigid, one-size-fits-all standard may sound good in theory, but it’s highly impractical—and often detrimental—in practice. Why? Because organizations are diverse. What one company deems "risky" or “unacceptable” could be business as usual content, valuable data, or critical information for another. Relying on vendors to determine what your employees can access or interact with creates unnecessary friction and frustration.

The Problem with Over-Filtering

Consider this: Some content filters block topics they have identified as ‘odd’ or ‘inappropriate’ because the filters focus only on keywords, rather than including context or regular expressions (RegEx) in their algorithms. That means an AI prompt will be unnecessarily blocked when it includes good information that's poorly worded, or even subject matter that is completely safe but doesn’t fit within the narrow parameters set by the third-party vendor. It’s like trying to watch a PG-13 movie after the kids are asleep, only to find you can’t get past the parental controls because you don’t have the password.  Frustrating, right? So when an employee's prompt is blocked, the IT team must go back to that vendor, hat in hand, asking for the filter to be retrofitted or downgraded. However, many of these tools aren't built to be adjusted and require an ad hoc workaround. And if this happens several times a day or week, all those ad hoc fixes could easily end up creating a far larger problem for the client company, as on-the-fly remedies frequently do. For instance, employees in a health-related organization will likely routinely craft prompts that have to do with body parts, which is not only acceptable, but necessary. Blocking those terms would be a big problem. (But if an employee at an accounting firm is blocked after including the same terms in a prompt, the filter is working as intended.)   Now, think about how this continual headache of blocked prompts and calls to the vendor plays out in a business setting: IT resources are diverted from planned activities, and people and projects are forced to deal with unnecessary delays. Maybe a project gets stalled at a critical time, productivity grinds to a halt, and that delay turns into lost revenue while you wait for an unscoped change from the vendor. And what does the vendor usually suggest? Typically, they want to shut down the filter entirely while they figure out a quick fix. But that’s risky—because by lifting the filter, you’re letting through all the unwanted content that the system was supposed to block. All because it issues too many false positives. This is a classic case of chasing perfection at the cost of progress.

The Case for Flexibility and Precision

Every company has its own risk appetite, its own culture, and its own information needs. So why should a third-party vendor impose blanket rules that restrict your access to critical data? Even worse, why should they be the gatekeeper of what your team can and cannot see—especially when they don’t know the intricacies of your business or why you need certain information? Frankly, that’s not just presumptuous, it’s an infringement of your operational autonomy.  At F5, we operate according to a different, maybe even controversial, strategy: We help our customers build toward precision. Rather than aim for perfection through overzealous filtering, we take a more balanced approach. Our solution is designed to capture 80% of the content that most companies would agree shouldn’t be allowed in or out of their systems. That’s the baseline: Strong protection, minimal friction. But here’s where things get interesting: The customer decides what happens with the other 20%. That’s right. We let you define what should or shouldn’t be blocked based on your unique needs, use cases, and risk tolerances. No rigid, third-party filters. No begging vendors for ad-hoc adjustments. You have control.

Tailored to Your Business

Every organization is different. As your business evolves, whether through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, or just the natural progression of projects, your content filters will need to change, too. F5 AI Guardrails gives you that flexibility. You can create and modify custom scanners at any time. Whether it’s updating a filter to accommodate a new product line, expanding content allowances as your customer base grows, or adjusting restrictions based on changing company culture, our platform adapts with you. At the end of the day, there’s no need to get stuck with static, unchangeable filters that don't reflect your current reality. You don’t need a vendor to decide what’s best for your organization. You need a solution that empowers your team to get the information they need without putting them at risk or censoring valuable data.

The Challenge

So, we challenge you: Look past the hype and limitations that some vendors have packaged as “features.” Their rigid, over-sensitive filters are holding you back. Instead, try F5. Create your own custom scanners, tailored to your needs. Our AI runtime security solutions don’t censor, over-block, or leave you waiting for vendor approval. They give you the power to get exactly what you need—no more, no less. And that means your security will be as advanced as the threats you face. When you're ready to take control of your GenAI solutions, we'll be ready to help.

Related Content

Blog

Closing the Loop: Why AI Security Remediation Matters

23 Sep 2025
Blog

Smarter Guardrails, Stronger Security with the New AI Assistant

22 Sep 2025
Blog

Explainability: Shining a Light into the AI Black Box 

03 Sep 2025

To learn more about our Inference Platform arrange a callback.

Latest Posts

Blog

Closing the Loop: Why AI Security Remediation Matters

23 Sep 2025
Blog

Smarter Guardrails, Stronger Security with the New AI Assistant

22 Sep 2025
Blog

Explainability: Shining a Light into the AI Black Box 

03 Sep 2025