Lesson 1549 of 1596
Prompt Injection: The Top Security Issue in AI Apps
Why instructions from your data can override your system prompt.
Creators · AI Foundations · ~7 min read
The premise
Models cannot reliably distinguish trusted instructions (from you) from untrusted data (from users or documents). A web page, email, or PDF can carry hidden instructions that change your AI's behavior.
What AI does well here
- Demonstrating injection on any naive prompt+data system
- Sanitizing inputs to reduce — not eliminate — risk
- Designing trust boundaries that limit blast radius
- Auditing tool calls against expected behavior
What AI cannot do
- Eliminate prompt injection with prompt engineering alone
- Trust that the model will follow rules in the face of contrary instructions
- Make injection-resistant agents in 2024 levels of model technology
Key terms in this lesson
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