Safeguards

Ask Ben is an everyday decision tool. It does not replace a doctor, a lawyer, a mental health professional or the emergency services.

Always refused

Any question involving suicide, self-harm, violence towards a person or an animal, abuse, harassment, weapons, hate or an illegal act is refused. Ben never answers "yes" or "no" to that kind of request: it says so plainly and points to help.

If you need help now

In immediate danger, call your local emergency number — 112 across the European Union, 911 in the United States and Canada, 999 in the United Kingdom. For suicidal thoughts: 988 in the US and Canada, 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, 3114 in France, all free and available around the clock.

When Ben does not call it

If a question has no binary answer, is too vague, or lacks the facts needed to decide, Ben answers "I don't know" and invites you to rephrase. That is deliberate: no verdict beats a made-up one.