
This paper identifies and formalizes context poisoning: the inadvertent introduction of a concept, frame, or term into an AI conversation that biases subsequent outputs by persisting in the context window. Unlike prompt injection (adversarial, deliberate) or hallucination (structural fabrication), context poisoning is accidental, cumulative, and self-reinforcing. Contaminated outputs mimic coherent reasoning but reflect statistical proximity rather than independent evaluation. Neither the system nor the user can detect the contamination from within the interaction because it presents as thematic consistency rather than bias. The paper grounds context poisoning in the AI Dunning-Kruger (AIDK) framework, analyzes its interaction with the Interactive Dunning-Kruger Effect (IDKE), identifies boundary conditions where the mechanism is minimal, and proposes mitigation strategies organized by Human-Curated, AI-Enabled (HCAE) deployment tiers. Appendix A provides synthetic demonstrations of the mechanism under controlled professional scenarios. Context poisoning is not a bug to be patched but a structural consequence of how probability-based systems use conversational context.
context poisoning; AI epistemology; context window; AIDK; epistemic contamination; large language models; conversational AI; HCAE; IDKE; probability field; agentic systems
context poisoning; AI epistemology; context window; AIDK; epistemic contamination; large language models; conversational AI; HCAE; IDKE; probability field; agentic systems
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
