instruction hierarchy
/ɪnˈstrʌkʃən ˈhaɪərɑːrki/
the order of authority that determines which instruction wins when directions conflict
instruction hierarchy in a sentence
“The assistant followed the higher-priority safety rule when the user request conflicted with it.”
Origin of instruction hierarchy
Latin instruere to arrange, teach + Greek hierarkhia rule of a high priest
Related Words
zero-shot prompting
asking a model to perform a task without giving an example in the prompt
few-shot prompting
providing a small number of examples in the prompt to demonstrate the desired behavior
in-context example
a demonstration included in the current input that guides a response without changing the model's parameters
counterexample
an example that disproves a general claim or shows what the desired output must avoid
edge case
an unusual but valid situation near a task's boundaries where normal assumptions may fail
delimiter
a character or marker that clearly separates instructions, examples, or data