SECAI Core · phase 5 of 15
Application programming interface
Methods exposed by a script or program that allow other scripts or programs to use it. For example, an API enables software developers to access functions of the TCP/IP network stack under a particular operating system.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- An API is the set of methods one program exposes so other programs can use it. For AI, it is the doorway through which apps send prompts and receive responses.
- Example
- A company's internal chatbot calls a hosted model through an HTTPS API with an API key. That key ends up hard-coded in a mobile app, an attacker extracts it, and strangers are soon running up the bill and probing the model at will.
- Why it matters
- Most AI systems are consumed through APIs, so the API is where authentication, rate limits, logging and input filtering live. A weak API means the model's guardrails are reachable from the outside.
- Hook
- The API is the front door of the model; lock it, log it, and watch who knocks.
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 5: Interacting with Models: Prompting, APIs, and Retrieval
With a working model and clean data, learn the interaction layer — how users and systems communicate instructions and retrieve grounded answers.
