guardrail

See also: guard-rail and guard rail

English

Alternative forms

guard rail

Etymology

From guard +‎ rail.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑɹdˌɹeɪl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

guardrail (plural guardrails)

A rail set alongside a dangerous place as a barrier, to improve safety.
Synonyms: guard railing, guide board, guide rail, side rail
1. (Canada, US) A strengthened barrier installed on the sides of a (usually major) road to keep vehicles on the highway and reduce the risk and/or impact of crashes.
  Synonyms: crash barrier (British), traffic barrier
(figurative, by extension) Any barrier designed to prevent accidents or mistakes.
- 2022 August 17, Carolina Uribe-Gosselin, Live Share: Enterprise Policies are here!‎^[1]:
  Set guardrails on Visual Studio Live Share
  We’ve heard from Live Share users that they want to use Live Share in their organization, but without controls to prevent individuals from outside their company domain joining Live Share sessions, they’re blocked. We are excited that this and many other requested policies are now available.
- 2022 October 21, Kevin Roose, “A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Some worry that releasing open-source generative A.I. models without guardrails could provoke a backlash among regulators and the general public that could damage the entire industry.
- 2023 February 5, Helene Cooper, Edward Wong, “U.S. Navy Divers Work to Recover Debris From Chinese Spy Balloon as Diplomacy Dwindles”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:
  That a confrontation over a single surveillance balloon deemed harmless by the Pentagon could destabilize diplomacy between the two countries showed the difficulties of putting “guardrails on the relationship,” a goal stated in those terms by President Biden and his aides.
- 2023 November 18, Blake Montgomery, Dani Anguiano, “OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for allegedly lying to company board”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:
  He also acknowledged the need for guardrails. “I really think the world is going to rise to the occasion and everybody wants to do the right thing,” Altman said.
- 2026 January 11, Amelia Gentleman, Helena Horton, “‘Add blood, forced smile’: how Grok’s nudification tool went viral”, in The Guardian‎^[5], →ISSN:
  CNN reported later that day that Musk had ordered staff at xAI to loosen the guardrails on Grok last year; a source told the broadcaster that he had told a meeting he was “unhappy about over-censoring” and three xAI safety team members had left the business soon after.
(rail transport) Synonym of check rail.