Azure OpenAI returns "I cannot assist" despite content filters set to Lowest blocking - false positives on legitimate business prompts

try disabling the Jailbreak/Prompt Shields first

I’m in the same situation. For the past 2–3 days, even simple prompts frequently return “I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.” It doesn’t get resolved even when the content filter is set to the most permissive level. Complete removal is necessary.

Hello Mujtaba,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in Q&A forum.

You are not alone in this as you can see from the comments, others are experiencing the same issue over the past few days. Here is what is happening: Azure OpenAI has two separate layers of safety checks running simultaneously. The first is your configurable content filter policy (which you have already set to "Lowest blocking"), and the second is a non-configurable, built-in safety layer baked into the model itself that cannot be turned off through the portal. This built-in layer can trigger the "I cannot assist" response completely independently of your filter settings. For use cases involving medical or health-related content like appointment booking the model's internal training sometimes flags these prompts as sensitive even though they are entirely legitimate business scenarios. The fact that multiple users are reporting this suddenly over the last 2-3 days also suggests there may be a recent platform-level change or regression on Microsoft's side.

Here is what you can do step by step:

Step 1: Confirm your content filter policy is actually assigned to your deployment

In Azure AI Foundry → Deployments → click on your deployment → check the "Content filter" field. A policy that is created but not linked to the specific deployment won't have any effect. Make sure your "Lowest blocking" policy is assigned here directly.

Step 2: Check and disable Prompt Shields (Jailbreak detection)

As suggested in the comments, this is a very likely culprit. Go to your Content Filter policy → scroll to the "Prompt Shields" section → toggle off both Jailbreak and Indirect Prompt Attack detection. These can over-aggressively flag legitimate prompts that mention human wellbeing topics like health or employment. Save and retest.

Step 3: Review all filter categories — not just Violence and Self-harm

You mentioned setting Violence and Self-harm to lowest, but check the remaining categories too — Hate, Sexual, Protected Material, and Groundedness. For medical appointment prompts, the "Self-harm" category specifically can fire even for benign health-related language. Make sure every category is set to your desired threshold.

Step 4: Simplify and test your system prompt

If you have a system prompt configured, try removing it entirely and sending a bare minimal test prompt like "Book a doctor's appointment for tomorrow at 10am." If this passes without the "cannot assist" response, something in your system prompt is triggering the internal safety layer. Rebuild your system prompt gradually to isolate the problematic instruction.

Step 5: Check the raw API response for filter details

When the refusal happens, inspect the full raw API response — specifically look at prompt_filter_results and content_filter_results fields. These may reveal which exact filter category fired, giving you a precise target to adjust. If both fields return as null despite the refusal, that confirms the block is coming from the model's internal layer rather than your configured policy.

Step 6: Apply for modified content filtering access

For legitimate use cases involving medical or sensitive-domain content, Microsoft provides a formal process to get additional filter flexibility. Submit the Azure OpenAI Limited Access form here: aka.ms/oai/modifiedaccess. This allows the Azure AI team to review your use case and grant deployment-level permissions that go beyond what the standard portal settings allow.

Step 7: Raise an Azure Support ticket urgently

Given that this is affecting multiple users suddenly and your business prompts are clearly legitimate, this warrants a formal bug report. Open a support request at aka.ms/azuresupport and include your Azure OpenAI resource name, deployment name, model version, sample prompts that are being refused, and the full raw API response. Mention that other users are also reporting the same issue starting in the past 2-3 days — this signals a potential platform regression and will help the team prioritize investigation.

If this answer helps you kindly accept the answer which will help others who have similar questions.

Best Regards,

Jerald Felix.

Yes, this issue started 3 days ago and still persists. Previously, I was using the default V2 content filter and everything worked fine. But over the past 3 days, even simple requests like “hi” or “how are you” return a message saying it can’t assist.

Even though I created a custom content filter with everything set to the lowest level, and disabled both Prompt Shield for jailbreak and indirect attacks, the issue remains. Performance has also degraded significantly—the same request that took about 2 minutes before now takes around 20 minutes.

Microsoft team, please take this issue seriously. I’m using this in production, and currently my users are experiencing very poor service.

Jerald Felix

Yes, this issue started 3 days ago and still persists. Previously, I was using the default V2 content filter and everything worked fine. But over the past 3 days, even simple requests like “hi” or “how are you” return a message saying it can’t assist.

Even though I created a custom content filter with everything set to the lowest level, and disabled both Prompt Shield for jailbreak and indirect attacks, the issue remains. Performance has also degraded significantly—the same request that took about 2 minutes before now takes around 20 minutes.

Microsoft team, please take this issue seriously. I’m using this in production, and currently my users are experiencing very poor service.