Glossary · Prompting & context
Prompt Sensitivity
Variation in model output or measured performance caused by changes to prompt wording, order, formatting, or examples that preserve the intended task.
Why it matters
A system that succeeds under one convenient phrasing may be unreliable for real users or misleading in evaluation.
In practice
Create semantically equivalent prompt variants, measure variance by case, and keep variants in regression tests instead of optimizing one prompt against one eval set.
Common confusion
Sensitivity is not always a prompt defect; it can reveal ambiguity, weak model robustness, unstable decoding, or an inadequate scoring rule.
Related terms
Sources
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