What Is Prompt Injection and Why Does It Matter?
Prompt injection happens when malicious instructions are hidden inside content an AI system processes, tricking it into ignoring its original instructions. It matters because AI systems increasingly have real-world capabilities — sending emails, running code, querying databases — so a successful injection can lead to data leakage or unauthorized actions. Mitigation combines least-privilege tool access, human approval for high-impact actions, and regular red-teaming.