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7 Prompt Engineering Techniques: Your New Superpower

Now, generate more accurate AI outputs

Author

Rahul Pandey
July 26, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Howdy Friends,

Today, I'm excited to share with you some game-changing tips on how to master the art of prompting AI language models.

In this newsletter, we'll dive deep into some effective prompting techniques with detailed examples to help you generate more accurate and desired outputs.

Let's get started!

Why Effective Prompting Matters?

Before we delve into the details, let's quickly recap why proper prompting is crucial. AI language models are powerful tools, but their output quality directly correlates with the quality of your input.

By mastering prompting techniques, you're essentially learning to speak the AI's language, enabling you to unlock its full potential.

Prompting techniques you must know

Prompting is my superpower and by mastering these techniques, you can have this superpower too.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. Be Clear and Specific:

You have to give a clear picture of what exactly you want from the AI. Be as detailed as you can with your instructions, but don't overload with unnecessary details. The goal is to provide enough information for the AI to understand your request precisely, without confusing it with extraneous information

Let's compare two prompts:

Example of a basic prompt:

Write about climate change.

Example of an enhanced prompt:

Write a 500-word article about the three most significant impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Focus on coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels. Include recent scientific data and explain potential long-term consequences for global fish populations and coastal communities.

The enhanced prompt provides clear parameters for length, specific topics to cover, and key points to address, resulting in a more focused and informative output.

2. Provide Context:

You must help the AI understand the background, purpose, and perspective from which they should approach the task. This includes specifying the role the AI should assume, the target audience, the tone of voice, and any relevant background information.

For example:

You are a financial advisor writing a blog post for millennials who are just starting to invest. Explain the concept of compound interest, why it's particularly relevant for young investors, and provide three practical tips for leveraging it effectively.

This prompt sets the role (financial advisor), audience (millennials), format (blog post), and specific points to cover, ensuring a tailored and relevant output.

3. Break Down Complex Tasks:

For complex requests, the AI will approach the task in its own way and generate undesired results. So, you should break the task into smaller, manageable steps to ensure the AI understands your thought process and approaches the task in the right order.

Here's an example of a marketing task:

Let's create a comprehensive marketing plan for a new eco-friendly water bottle. Follow these steps:

1. Develop a customer persona for the target audience.

2. List five unique selling points of the water bottle.

3. Suggest three marketing channels that would be most effective for reaching the target audience.

4. Create a tagline and brief (50-word) product description.

5. Outline a social media campaign strategy with three post ideas each for Instagram and Twitter.

This prompt with a step-by-step approach ensures all aspects of the task are addressed systematically and generates more accurate responses.

You can also use the <Scratchpad> method to let AI break down the task for you and then use it for prompting.

4. Provide Examples:

If you want AI to generate responses in a particular style, you should provide some examples. This makes it easier for the model to understand the style, format, or content you desire.

Similarly, you can set constraints to define the boundaries of the task.

Here's a prompt for generating product descriptions:

Write three short product descriptions for luxury watches. Each description should be 50-75 words long and follow this structure:

- Opening sentence highlighting a unique feature

- Two sentences about materials and craftsmanship

- Closing sentence about the watch's prestige or exclusivity

Here's a sample:

'The Chronomaster Elite features a revolutionary self-winding mechanism visible through its sapphire case back. Crafted from premium grade 5 titanium, this timepiece boasts a 60-hour power reserve and water resistance to 100 meters. Each component is hand-finished by master craftsmen in our Swiss atelier. A true collectors' piece, the Chronomaster Elite is limited to just 500 pieces worldwide.'

You can also provide a few examples of the task you want completed before asking the AI to do it. This helps the AI understand the pattern or format you're looking for.

Here's an example for generating analogies:

Here are two examples of analogies:

1. 'Time is money' because both are valuable resources that can be spent or saved.

2. 'Life is a roller coaster' because both have ups and downs, twists and turns.

Now, create three new analogies comparing abstract concepts to everyday objects or experiences. Explain each analogy.

5. Use Chain-of-Thought Prompting:

This technique involves asking the AI to explain its reasoning or show its work. It's particularly useful for complex problem-solving tasks or when you want to understand how the AI arrived at its conclusion.

For example:

Solve the following word problem, showing your step-by-step reasoning:

A baker has 150 eggs. She uses 2/3 of the eggs to make cakes, and then uses 3/4 of the remaining eggs to make cookies. How many eggs does she have left?

For each step, explain your thought process and any calculations you perform.

6. Let AI Check itself:

This technique involves asking the AI to verify its own work or approach the problem from multiple angles to ensure consistency. This technique helps in getting more accurate and refined outputs.

For instance:

Write a 300-word article about the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive function. After writing, please review the article for the following:

1. Check all facts and statistics for accuracy.

2. Ensure logical flow of ideas.

3. Verify that the content is exactly 300 words.

4. Highlight any areas where additional research might be needed.

Provide the reviewed article along with your notes from the review process.

7. Assign AI a Role:

My favorite prompting style is asking the AI to take on a specific persona or assume a specific role. It helps the AI think from a specific perspective and generate accurate output.

This strategy is particularly useful when you need content from a particular point of view or with specific expertise

For example:

You are a seasoned investigative journalist in the year 2050, looking back on the climate crisis of the early 21st century. Write a 500-word article describing:

  1. The tipping points that were reached between 2025-2035

  2. The global consequences that followed

  3. The technological and policy solutions that eventually helped mitigate the crisis

  4. Lessons learned for future generations

Use a somber yet hopeful tone, and include quotes from fictional experts and eyewitnesses to add depth to your narrative.

Wrapping Up

Remember, mastering these prompting techniques takes practice. I encourage you to experiment with these strategies in your AI interactions.

Try rewriting one of your recent prompts using these advanced techniques and see how it improves the output.

I'd love to hear about your experiences and any creative prompting strategies you develop. Feel free to share your success stories or ask questions!

That's all for now. For tips and updates on AI developments, follow me on X @therahulogy.

Happy prompting!

Rahul Pandey