# Prompt Injection Mitigation with Agentic AI, Nested Learning, and AI Sustainability via Semantic Caching

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13186 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.13186/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Agent threats, guardrails and governance, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 13 of its 26 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Jan 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Agent threats, guardrails and governance](https://mlsanity.com/agents/agent-threats-guardrails-and-governance/)
- LLM safety and security / [Prompt injection and agent security](https://mlsanity.com/safety/prompt-injection-and-agent-security/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [Formalizing and Benchmarking Prompt Injection Attacks and Defenses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12815/) (2023)
- [Prompt Infection: LLM-to-LLM Prompt Injection within Multi-Agent Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07283/) (2024)
- [How Hungry is AI? Benchmarking Energy, Water, and Carbon Footprint of LLM Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.09598/) (2025)
- [Nested Learning: The Illusion of Deep Learning Architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.24695/) (2025)
- [Signed-Prompt: A New Approach to Prevent Prompt Injection Attacks Against LLM-Integrated Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07612/) (2024)
- [PromptShield: Deployable Detection for Prompt Injection Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15145/) (2025)
- [Prompt Injection Detection and Mitigation via AI Multi-Agent NLP Frameworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.11517/) (2025)
- [Semantic Caching for Low-Cost LLM Serving: From Offline Learning to Online Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.07675/) (2025)
- [Hallucination Mitigation using Agentic AI Natural Language-Based Frameworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13946/) (2025)
- [A Multi-Agent LLM Defense Pipeline Against Prompt Injection Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.14285/) (2025)
- [Sentinel Agents for Secure and Trustworthy Agentic AI in Multi-Agent Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.14956/) (2025)
- [Agentic AI Sustainability Assessment for Supply Chain Document Insights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.07097/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [MADP: A Multi-Agent Pipeline for Sustainable Document Processing with Human-in-the-Loop](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.17159/) (2026)
- [Hallucination Mitigation with Agentic AI, Nested Learning, and AI Sustainability via Semantic Caching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.29055/) (2026)
- [SoK: When Safe Agents Fail Together: The Security of Multi Agent LLM Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.00595/) (2026)
- [From SQL Generation to Tool Selection: A Domain-Oriented Pattern for MCP Servers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.22063/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Prompt injection remains a central obstacle to the safe deployment of large language models, particularly in multi-agent settings where intermediate outputs can propagate or amplify malicious instructions. Building on earlier work that introduced a four-metric Total Injection Vulnerability Score (TIVS), this paper extends the evaluation framework with semantic similarity-based caching and a fifth metric (Observability Score Ratio) to yield TIVS-O, investigating how defence effectiveness interacts with transparency in a HOPE-inspired Nested Learning architecture. The proposed system combines an agentic pipeline with Continuum Memory Systems that implement semantic similarity-based caching across 301 synthetically generated injection-focused prompts drawn from ten attack families, while a fourth agent performs comprehensive security analysis using five key performance indicators. In addition to traditional injection metrics, OSR quantifies the richness and clarity of security-relevant reasoning exposed by each agent, enabling an explicit analysis of trade-offs between strict mitigation and auditability. Experiments show that the system achieves secure responses with zero high-risk breaches, while semantic caching delivers substantial computational savings, achieving a 41.6% reduction in LLM calls and corresponding decreases in latency, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. Five TIVS-O configurations reveal optimal trade-offs between mitigation strictness and forensic transparency. These results indicate that observability-aware evaluation can reveal non-monotonic effects within multi-agent pipelines and that memory-augmented agents can jointly maximize security robustness, real-time performance, operational cost savings, and environmental sustainability without modifying underlying model weights, providing a production-ready pathway for secure and green LLM deployments.
