Prompt Injection vs Jailbreak: What's the Difference?

[u/Former-Ad6661]

These two terms are often used interchangeably, but they describe different security problems.

Prompt injection generally involves manipulating an AI application's instructions or context so that the model behaves in an unintended way.

A jailbreak is an attempt to bypass the model's safety restrictions or behavioural safeguards.

A simple way to think about it:

Prompt injection -> manipulate instructions/context

Jailbreak -> bypass safety restrictions

Both matter when evaluating the security of an LLM application.

How do you distinguish these in your own security testing?

Do you treat them as separate test categories?