# Prompt

> A prompt is the input a user gives a generative AI system, which then responds with an output.

Original page: https://t10.de/en/glossary/prompt
Publisher: total10 GmbH, https://t10.de/en/glossary

The [Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon](https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/prompt-125087), a German business encyclopaedia, lists 'query', 'request' and 'instruction' as other words for a prompt. In its [study of the opportunities and risks of generative AI models](https://www.bsi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/BSI/KI/Generative_KI-Modelle.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=7) (in German), Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) uses the term for the text a large language model processes and explains prompt injection with a hypothetical chatbot whose provider places its own instructions in front of the user's text. Because the model cannot tell the two apart, user input can override the rules set in advance.

The BSI's [guidance on AI agents](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Verbraucherinnen-und-Verbraucher/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Technologien_sicher_gestalten/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz/KI-Agenten/ki-agenten.html) describes a second route: an agent can interpret commands hidden in websites, documents or emails as genuine instructions and carry them out. An application therefore cannot rely on instructions in the prompt alone to enforce its rules.

In our projects, the business rules, including how a prompt is put together, stay inside the client's application rather than in a separate workflow tool. One example is a business application we built for a pharmaceutical logistics company, where the software itself sets the chatbot's rules and builds its prompt in several stages.

## See also

- [AI agent](https://t10.de/en/glossary/ai-agent): An AI agent is a software system, built on a large language model, that carries out actions on its own and uses interfaces to other programs to reach its goal.
- [n8n](https://t10.de/en/glossary/n8n): n8n is a tool for automating business workflows, including steps that use AI; it is published under fair-code licences and can run on a company's own infrastructure.
- [RAG](https://t10.de/en/glossary/rag): Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a method that lets a generative AI model draw on documents held in a knowledge base and use them to enrich its output.
- [Large language model](https://t10.de/en/glossary/large-language-model): A large language model (LLM) is an AI model, trained on large amounts of text, that processes text inputs called prompts and generates text outputs from them.

## Where the term appears

- [Custom AI agents for businesses](https://t10.de/en/ai-agents)
- [E-commerce for SMEs: shops, content, AI](https://t10.de/en/ecommerce)
- [Out of the inbox: a knowledge platform for a pharma logistics provider](https://t10.de/en/blog/knowledge-platform-pharma)
- [AI product copy and SEO content with RAG](https://t10.de/en/seo)

## Sources

1. [Prompt, Autor: Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel (FHNW)](https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/prompt-125087), Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon (Springer Gabler), accessed 2026-11-07
2. [Generative KI-Modelle: Chancen und Risiken für Industrie und Behörden, Version 2.0 vom 17.01.2025](https://www.bsi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/BSI/KI/Generative_KI-Modelle.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=7), Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI), accessed 2026-11-07
3. [KI-Agenten: Wenn Künstliche Intelligenz selbstständig handelt (Verbraucherseite, ohne Datumsangabe)](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Verbraucherinnen-und-Verbraucher/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Technologien_sicher_gestalten/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz/KI-Agenten/ki-agenten.html), Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI), accessed 2026-11-07