tool use

[ tool yooz ]noun

An AI actually doing something — running a command, reading a file, sending a request — instead of only writing about it.

Explanation

Also called function calling. It is the line between a machine that describes an action and one that takes it, and it is exactly the line where prompt injection stops being a theory.

Related words

• MCP — Model Context Protocol: an agreed way to plug an AI into outside tools and data.
• prompt injection — 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.
• agentic coding — Working with an AI that goes off and does a whole job in a loop — looks things up, uses tools, checks its own work — instead of answering one question at a time.