Definition
Plain language
An exchange with an AI that spans several back-and-forth messages, not just one question and one answer.
As stated in the literature
An interaction regime with multiple sequential user-model exchanges; safety properties measured single-turn often fail to transfer to multi-turn settings, where persuasion and history-anchoring attacks operate.
Also called: multi turn, single-turn
Why it matters: Safety that holds up in a single reply can crumble over a long conversation, so testing only one turn can miss real vulnerabilities.
For example, a user keeps rephrasing and pushing across several messages until the assistant finally agrees to something it refused at first.
Heard on the show
“Third concern — the evaluation is single-turn.”Episode 004 — The Sycophancy Circuit That Survives Alignment Training