Set AI controls for a workspace

Last updated: October 26, 2026

Set what everyone in your workspace can do with AI, lock what must not change, and check what one member ends up with.

Before you start

You need Manage workspace settings, which the Admin role has.
The workspace's own AI controls are available on every plan. For how the workspace fits with parent workspaces, projects, groups and members, see AI controls.

Steps

Open Settings and select Models under AI Controls. Under each model, a note says what it inherits and from where, such as Inherits On from Layer's default.
Set a model to Off for the workspace. The same Inherit, On and Off choices work for every control on every AI Controls page.
Select the lock at the end of the row, so no project, group, member or child workspace can turn it back on.
Select Save.
Under Preview as a member, choose a member to see what they get. The model is listed under Models turned off by name, set by the workspace and locked.

Result

The workspace's controls apply to everyone in it, in every project, and in every child workspace below it unless that workspace sets its own value. A locked value holds everywhere below the workspace: projects, groups, members and child workspaces show it read-only. The member preview updates as soon as the change is saved.

The workspace's AI Controls pages

Every page under AI Controls sets part of the workspace's controls:

Models: which kinds of generation and which models the team can use, whether models nobody has turned on by name can run, and where each model's generations start. See Choose which models your team can use.
Agents: the Layer agent, its subagents and the spend it asks before. See Control the Layer agent and its spending.
Input Guardrails and Output Scoring: rules that screen requests and score results. See Input guardrails and Set up scoring rules for a workspace or project.
Content Policy: the content tolerance, and the prompt Layer names new styles with. See Set your workspace's content tolerance.
Sharing: whether reference sets and workflows can leave the workspace. See Keep reference sets and workflows inside your workspace.

Production tips

Set the studio's baseline here, and lock only the non-negotiables. A value left unlocked is a default that projects, groups and members can change for a reason; a locked one is a rule. Lock what a contract or a publisher requires, and leave the rest open.
Preview before and after. Pick the same member in Preview as a member before and after a change to see exactly what it did for them, including values their groups or their own controls set.
Use Inherit everything to start over. It puts every control on the page back on Inherit, so the workspace follows its parent workspace or Layer's defaults again. Select Save to keep it.
Each page saves on its own. Save before you move to the next page; Discard drops anything you have not saved.

If something goes wrong

A control is greyed out with "Locked by the ... workspace". A parent workspace locked it. Ask an admin of that workspace to change it.
The lock button cannot be selected. The control is on Inherit. Set a value first, then lock it.
Only workspace settings admins can change the AI controls. Your role does not include Manage workspace settings. Ask an admin, or see Roles and permissions.
A member still has a model you turned off. Their group or their own controls turn it back on. Check them in Preview as a member, and lock the value here if no one should have it.