SECAI Core · phase 5 of 15
System role
A compact statement that defines the model's persona
The Explain card
- Plain English
- The system role is a compact statement that sets the model's persona: who it is, what it specialises in, and how it should carry itself in the conversation.
- Example
- "You are a cautious security analyst who answers only about the company's own policies." That single line shapes tone and scope. Swap it for "You are a helpful assistant who does anything asked" and the same model becomes far easier to steer into unsafe territory.
- Why it matters
- Persona influences what the model will and will not do. Defenders review the system role during assessments because a sloppy persona quietly widens the attack surface.
- Hook
- The system role is the name badge the model wears; choose it like you would for a new hire.
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.
