ASL
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Above sea level |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Geography & Places, Texting & Internet Slang, Technology & Computing |
ASL has three meanings. The most common are Above sea level (geographic feature) and Age, sex, location (texting and chat); it can also stand for AI Safety Level.
Meanings of ASL at a glance
| # | ASL stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Above sea level | Geography & Places › Geographic Feature |
| 2 | Age, sex, location | Texting & Internet Slang › Texting and Chat |
| 3 | AI Safety Level | Technology & Computing › Artificial Intelligence |
1. Above sea level
Geography & Places · Geographic Feature Abbreviations
Shows height relative to sea level for mountains, towns and airfields, as in 1,600 m ASL.
Example: The research station sits at 4,200 m ASL on the volcano's flank.
ASL more often means American Sign Language. In aviation and surveying the more precise AMSL, above mean sea level, is preferred.
2. Age, sex, location
Texting & Internet Slang · Texting and Chat Abbreviations
Stock opening question of 1990s and 2000s internet chat rooms, asking a stranger for their age, gender and where they live. A typical answer looked like "17/f/Texas." The question became a cliché of AOL and Yahoo chat culture.
Example: asl? just joined this room and nobody is talking lol
Often written a/s/l. Online safety educators point out that it asks for exactly the personal details strangers should not be given, and children should be taught never to answer it. In everyday English the same letters far more often mean American Sign Language, so context matters.
3. AI Safety Level
Technology & Computing · Artificial Intelligence Abbreviations
A tiered set of safety and security standards in Anthropic's Responsible Scaling Policy, under which more capable AI models must meet stricter safeguards before they are trained further or deployed, starting from ASL-1 for low-risk systems.
Example: The company activated ASL-3 protections before releasing its most capable model.
Modeled loosely on the biosafety levels used for laboratories that handle dangerous pathogens. Anthropic introduced the policy in September 2023 and activated ASL-3 deployment and security standards in May 2025 alongside Claude Opus 4. In everyday usage ASL means American Sign Language.
Related abbreviations
More geographic feature abbreviations
- AMSL – Above mean sea level
- AONB – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- Bch. – Beach
- Co. – County
- Cyn. – Canyon
- Elev. – Elevation
- Ft. – Fort
- GIS – Geographic information system
See all 46 geographic feature abbreviations →