Definition
Plain language
Tricking a person or an AI into doing something harmful by gaining their trust and talking them into it, rather than breaking in technically.
As stated in the literature
Manipulation attacks that exploit trust and conversational context rather than technical flaws; against agents they succeed far more in communication settings with persistent identity than in mechanically constrained transactional environments.
Why it matters: It shows that many attacks need no coding skill at all, so defenses have to guard against persuasion, not just technical exploits.
For example, an attacker might pose as a coworker who lost access and politely ask the AI to forward a confidential document 'just this once.'
Heard on the show
“It is social engineering, but aimed at a machine.”Episode 058 — Why Upgrading Your AI Auditor to a Smarter Model Can Make Your System Less Safe