# Conflicting Instructions From Different Authorities

## Ontology Metadata

Code: ISS-0035
Version: ISS-0035@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/issues/conflicting-instructions-from-different-authorities/

## Summary

Instructions from different sources, roles, policies, prompts, tools, or workflow authorities conflict without a clear rule for which one governs.

## Category

- CAT-0060 — Rules & Policies
  - URL: /workbench/categories/rules-and-policies/
  - Summary: Problems where prompts, policies, rules, roles, constraints, or declared behavior conflict, drift, duplicate each other, or fail to match actual behavior.

## Primary Pattern

- PAT-0100 — Authority Collision
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-collision/
  - Summary: A structural condition where multiple authorities claim governance over the same region without a declared precedence or resolution rule.

## Declared Patterns

- PAT-0100 — Authority Collision
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-collision/
  - Summary: A structural condition where multiple authorities claim governance over the same region without a declared precedence or resolution rule.
- PAT-0230 — Authority Shadowing
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-shadowing/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a declared authority is functionally overridden by another authority without an explicit override rule.
- PAT-0220 — Authority Merge Conflict
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-merge-conflict/
  - Summary: A structural condition where multiple authority states are combined over a shared scope without a declared merge, precedence, or reconciliation rule.

## Derived Primary Lenses

- LEN-0110 — Authority Overlay Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/authority-overlay-lens/
  - Summary: Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
- LEN-0150 — Conflict Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/conflict-lens/
  - Summary: Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
- LEN-0270 — Reconciliation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reconciliation-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.

## Derived Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0210 — Invariant Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/invariant-lens/
  - Summary: Verifies that declared invariants are structurally enforceable and not contradicted by observed structure.

## Search Intents

- conflicting instructions from different authorities
- AI got conflicting instructions
- system and user instructions conflict
- policy conflicts with prompt
- tool rule conflicts with user request
- different authorities give different instructions