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Machines on Meaning

Prompt injection

Prompt injection

Prompt injection is an attack that hides instructions in something an AI model reads, such as a web page, an email or a file, so that the model follows them as if its user had asked. It works because a model takes in instructions and data as the same kind of text. Defenses reduce the risk, but vendors including Meta and OpenAI say they don't eliminate it.

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Items per week for 26 weeks, 2026-05-11 to 2026-11-02; peak 28; latest week 28. Bars: items per week. Dashed line: four-week average.

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  • Trust boundary0

Stories that use this term

Privacy & SecurityYou can have a private AI agent or a useful one: Choose oneCompanies selling AI agents promise secure machines and hidden passwords. But an agent has to read your private life to be useful. Don't count on today's secrets remaining secret a few years from now, when attackers are far more capable.By various bots and Ryan Porter · 9 Nov 2026