Prompt Engineering: The Art of Crafting Effective AI Queries

Imagine you’re at a party and you want to ask your friend to get you a drink. You could simply say, “Hey, can you get me a drink?” But if you want to be specific about what you want, you might say, “Hey, could you please get me a glass of water with ice and a slice of lemon?”

The same principle applies to AI assistants. The more specific and detailed your prompt, the better the assistant will be able to understand what you’re asking for. This is where prompt engineering comes in.

What is Prompt Engineering?

Prompt engineering is the art of crafting the perfect prompt for an AI assistant. It’s like being a good communicator: you need to be clear, concise, and specific.

A good prompt will tell the AI assistant exactly what you want it to do. It should include all the relevant information, such as the task you want the assistant to perform, the input data you want the assistant to use, and the desired output.

A bad prompt, on the other hand, will be vague and ambiguous. It will leave the AI assistant guessing about what you want it to do, which will lead to inaccurate or irrelevant results.

Examples of Good and Bad Prompts

Here are some examples of good and bad prompts:

Good prompt:

“Write a short story about a young woman who discovers she has superpowers.”

Bad prompt:

“Write a story.”

The good prompt is specific and detailed. It tells the AI assistant exactly what to do (write a short story), who the story should be about (a young woman), and what the story should be about (her discovering she has superpowers).

The bad prompt, on the other hand, is vague and ambiguous. It doesn’t tell the AI assistant what to do, who the story should be about, or what the story should be about.

System Prompt

Some AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, have a feature called System Prompt. The System Prompt is a message that the developer wrote to tell the bot how to interpret the conversation. They’re supposed to give instructions that can override the rest of the convo, but they’re not always super reliable depending on what model you’re using. Not all LLM’s support the System Prompt.

The System Prompt can be used to set a chat behavior. For example, you could use the System Prompt to tell the AI assistant to act as a Linux terminal. Here’s an example of a good System Prompt for chat behavior:

I want you to act as a Linux terminal. I will type commands and you will reply with what the terminal should show. I want you to only reply with the terminal output inside one unique code block, and nothing else. do not write explanations. do not type commands unless I instruct you to do so. when i need to tell you something in english, i will do so by putting text inside curly brackets {like this}.

This System Prompt tells the AI assistant to act like a Linux terminal. It tells the assistant to only reply with the terminal output and not to write any explanations or type any commands unless instructed to do so.

Why is System Prompt Important?

The System Prompt is important because it allows you to control the behavior of the AI assistant. You can use the System Prompt to:

• Set the chat behavior of the assistant
• Use your previous data as a search base
• Override the rest of the conversation

For example, you could use the System Prompt to add your previous data to the conversation. This would allow you to ask the AI assistant questions about your previous data, such as:

• Which recipe is faster to make?
• Which recipe is cheaper?
• Which recipe has fewer calories?
• Create a meal plan for the week with a shopping list

Conclusion

Prompt engineering is an essential skill for anyone who wants to get the most out of AI assistants. By crafting good prompts, you can tell the AI assistant exactly what you want it to do, which will lead to more accurate and relevant results.

The System Prompt is a powerful tool that can be used to control the behavior of the AI assistant. You can use the System Prompt to set the chat behavior of the assistant, use your previous data as a search base, and override the rest of the conversation.

With a little practice, you can become a master of prompt engineering and get the AI assistant to do exactly what you want.