Love Mondays 138: Elevate Your AI Game with Better Prompts

Monday Musing:

Could the real magic of AI lie in the art of asking the right questions?

 

Do you remember those awesome AI tools I shared a few weeks back. I encouraged you to explore how they could elevate your work and creative projects. I’m curious, have any of these tools become integrated into your daily routine?

I’ve personally been spending 15 minutes a week playing with a new AI tool to see if it can add value to my work as a way of trying to eat the AI elephant one bite at a time. 

In this exploration, I’ve found that the quality of what I input into AI — my prompts — directly influences the quality of what I get out of it. Have you found the same? This tracks with my belief that the answers we receive, more generally, are only as good as the questions we ask. 

In the AI world, it’s known as ‘prompt engineering’, a key practice where how we frame our questions or commands can make a world of difference in the results we get. And did you know that this is now a job!? A great example of a job that didn’t exist 2 years ago!

According to Zapier, prompt engineering involves ‘carefully creating prompts with precise verbs and vocabulary to improve machine-generated outputs in a consistent and predictable manner.’ Check this short video out for a clear explanation of prompt engineering and see image below for 3 tips to help you nail your prompts.

The good news is that anyone can be a prompt engineer. You don’t need to be an AI or tech expert to get started—I’m certainly not, and I’m diving into it. Will you?

P.S. In this week’s Love Mondays More, I’m diving into the nuances of AI bias, its potential impacts, and strategies to mitigate its effects.

P.P.S. I’d love to hear from you! Have you discovered any AI tools that have been game-changers for you? If so, what makes them stand out? Feel free to reply to this email with your recommendations!