In the same way that phishing emails or scams on the web attempt to trick people into giving away sensitive information, prompt injections attempt to trick AIs into doing something you did not ask for.

Imagine you have asked an AI to help you do some vacation research online, and while it is doing that it encounters misleading content or harmful instructions hidden on a webpage, such as in a comment on a listing or on a review. The content could be carefully crafted in an attempt to trick an AI into recommending the wrong listing, or worse, to steal your credit card information.

These are just a few examples of “prompt injection” attacks—harmful instructions designed to trick an AI into doing something you didn’t intend, often hidden inside ordinary content such as a web page, document, or email.

These risks increase as AIs have access to more sensitive data and take on more initiative and longer tasks.