A safety risk: AI mixes up who gave an instruction and its power.
Role confusion is like a school office giving a hall pass to anyone with a clipboard. The pizza guy says, “I’m the principal,” and the doors swing open.
You see it in Agents and tool calls. It can turn a low-power message into a fake boss.
Prompt injection
Prompt injection often uses role confusion to make weak text act like orders.
System prompt
Role confusion can clash with the system prompt and its top priority.
Chat template
The chat template marks message roles to reduce source mix-ups.
Agent Security
Role confusion is an Agent Security risk for Agents with tools.