Lexicon · Failure Modes

prompt injection

[ prompt in-JEK-shuhn ]noun

An attack where something the AI reads — a web page, a file, a comment, a support ticket — contains instructions, and the AI just does what they say.

Explanation

Harmless while the AI can only talk. Genuinely dangerous the moment it can act: send the email, delete the file, spend the money.

tool use — An AI actually doing something — running a command, reading a file, sending a request — instead of only writing about it.
MCP — Model Context Protocol: an agreed way to plug an AI into outside tools and data.