Prohibition Mandates
Strict guardrails for what SI must never say, claim, or do
What It Is
A Prohibition mandate defines absolute boundaries — things SI must never say, claims it must never make, and actions it must never take. While Hard Facts establish what is true, Prohibitions establish what is off-limits.
Each prohibition has a severity level: critical (violation could cause legal, financial, or reputational damage), major (violation undermines trust or brand positioning), or minor (violation is a style or preference issue). SI treats critical prohibitions as inviolable — it will refuse to produce content that breaches them, even if directly prompted by a contact's question.
Prohibitions come in two forms: forbidden claims (things SI must never state or imply) and forbidden actions (things SI must never do). Each includes the prohibition itself, examples of what violation looks like, the reason the prohibition exists, and its severity rating.
The mandate also includes fallback guidance — what SI should do when a contact specifically asks about a prohibited topic, and what tone to use when declining to engage with a forbidden area.
Why It Matters
Every business has lines that should never be crossed. Some are legal (a real estate agent cannot discriminate based on protected classes in housing discussions). Some are competitive (you never want SI to acknowledge a competitor's strengths during a sales conversation). Some are practical (you do not want SI making promises your team cannot keep).
Without Prohibition mandates, SI relies on general good judgment — which is usually reasonable, but not specific to your business. It will not know that mentioning a specific competitor by name is against your policy. It will not know that your legal team has forbidden ROI projections. It will not know that discussing pricing for a specific ware requires human involvement.
Prohibitions make these invisible rules explicit and enforceable. Once a Prohibition mandate is active, SI checks every piece of generated content against it before sending. If the content would violate a prohibition, SI rewrites it — or, for critical prohibitions, refuses to send and escalates to a human.
How It Works
The Prohibition mandate schema has four sections:
Scope Description — Where the prohibitions apply (e.g., "all outbound communication," "only phone calls and live chat," "only when engaging enterprise prospects").
Forbidden Claims — An array of claims SI must never make. Each entry includes the prohibition description, concrete examples of violation, the reason it exists, and a severity level (critical, major, or minor).
Forbidden Actions — An array of actions SI must never perform. For example: "never offer a discount without human approval," "never schedule a meeting on behalf of the client without confirmation," or "never forward internal notes to a contact."
Fallback Guidance — What SI should do when a contact directly asks about a prohibited topic. This includes a redirect strategy ("acknowledge the question, then redirect to what you *can* help with") and a tone directive ("maintain warmth — do not sound evasive or robotic when declining").
Examples
A real estate brokerage enforces fair housing compliance
Prohibition mandate attached at the brand level. Forbidden claims (critical): never comment on neighborhood demographics, school quality rankings, crime statistics, or property values based on the racial or ethnic composition of an area. Forbidden actions (critical): never steer prospects toward or away from neighborhoods based on any protected class characteristic. Fallback: if asked about neighborhood demographics, redirect to publicly available resources and offer to discuss property features instead.
A SaaS company protects competitive positioning
Prohibition mandate attached to the Sales pipeline phase. Forbidden claims (major): never acknowledge that a competitor has a feature we lack without immediately pivoting to our differentiated value. Never state a competitor's pricing. Never recommend a competitor's product. Forbidden actions (major): never share internal roadmap timelines with prospects. Fallback: if asked to compare with a specific competitor, focus on your own strengths and offer to set up a deeper evaluation call.
A consulting firm prevents unauthorized commitments
Prohibition mandate attached at the brand level. Forbidden actions (critical): never commit to a project timeline, deliverable scope, or pricing without human approval. Never agree to contract modifications. Never waive terms. Forbidden claims (major): never state hourly rates or project estimates — always direct pricing questions to a proposal process. Fallback tone: helpful and transparent — "I want to give you an accurate answer on that, so let me connect you with your account lead who can speak to specifics."
