In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, prompt engineering stands out as an essential skill for the future. It allows you to shape the responses of AI models to produce the desired outputs. Whether you’re a seasoned AI expert or a newcomer just starting to explore the field, refining your prompt engineering techniques can significantly enhance your AI’s performance. Let’s delve into some of the most effective and widely used prompt engineering strategies you should know.
Prompt engineering is a finely balanced combination of art and science, with the objective of creating prompts that elicit the most accurate, relevant and beneficial responses from AI models. It’s a constantly evolving field, with new techniques emerging as our comprehension of AI’s information processing abilities expands.
Most of the techniques mentioned can be combined to guide the model toward the best possible response. One of the remarkable aspects of the current generation of LLMs is their ability to seemingly learn on the fly. While the model isn’t actually being trained in real-time, its design allows it to find answers to questions it wasn’t specifically trained on. This is why, when used correctly, the results can often exceed expectations.
We’ll start of with some of the more basic prompts that I use often. These prompts are geared towards getting the best quality answer with as little back and forth as possible. We’ll then follow up with some more advanced techniques, only some of which are possible to execute within ChatGPT without using the API.
Basic Prompt Engineering Techniques
Zero-Shot
Zero-Shot prompting involves prompting the AI to perform a task or generate a response without providing any prior examples or training on the specific task. This technique leverages the model’s general knowledge and reasoning capabilities to handle new and unseen tasks effectively. You can combine various techniques to create a zero-shot prompt that elicits a good response without needing to provide examples.
Take on the role of an expert movie critic and write a review for the movie “Interstellar”.
Few-Shot
Few-Shot prompting involves providing the AI with a few examples of the desired output or task before asking it to generate a new response. This technique helps the model understand the pattern or structure of the task, leading to more accurate and relevant outputs.
Example 1: “Inception is a mind-bending thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat with its complex narrative and stunning visuals.”
Example 2: “The Godfather is a timeless classic that explores the intricacies of family, power and loyalty in the mafia world.”
Now, write a review for the movie “Interstellar”:
Role Play
Telling the AI to take on a specific personality, role or expert. It is also referred to as Expert Prompting when being used to tap into specific knowledge by role playing an expert in that field. I usually find this is the easiest way to tailor the structure and substance of an AI response. I use it for everything from outputting content in a specific tone, style or reading level to setting expectations about the depth or technicality of the response I’m expecting. This is one of my most used prompting techniques.
Take on the role of an expert WordPress developer and list out the top 5 options for adding GA4 to my website with pros and cons of each options.
Instructional
Instructional prompts involve providing the AI with clear and direct instructions. This technique ensures that the AI understands the specific task it needs to perform, leading to precise and actionable responses. Instructional prompts are particularly useful for tasks that require specific outputs or formats. While this might seem like an obvious one, it’s still an important technique to get right.
Summarize the main points of the following article into a single paragraph, removing any technical language to make it accessible to a wider audience.
<article>
Structural
Structural prompts are designed to guide the AI’s response by outlining a specific format or structure. This technique is particularly useful for complex tasks that require detailed organization. For example, when I need to output code, tabular data or a report with specific sections, I specify the expected output with as much detail as needed. This approach ensures clarity and coherence in the AI’s output.
I’m looking to buy a new car. I currently drive a jeep wrangler but need something with more space. Provide 10 options and output the results in a table format with the following columns: Make, Model, Reliability, Price and Good For Pets.
Leading Prompts
Leading prompts guide the AI towards a desired type of response by providing specific cues or partial information. This technique is particularly useful when you need the AI to complete a sentence, generate a list or provide an example based on a given context. By giving the AI a starting point, you can steer the response in the right direction. I often use this method to ensure consistency and relevance in the AI’s outputs.
For example,
Complete the following sentence with a potential consequence of climate change: “One major impact of rising global temperatures is…”
Socratic Prompts
Socratic prompts, inspired by the method of questioning used by the Greek philosopher Socrates, stimulate critical thinking and deeper analysis. These prompts are valuable for challenging assumptions and exploring complex issues. I find them particularly effective in educational settings or when examining the implications of certain actions.
What could be the potential consequences of widespread AI adoption in the workplace?
Reflective Prompts
Reflective prompts encourage the AI to consider previous responses and build upon them. This technique is beneficial for refining ideas or solutions and promoting continuous improvement. I use it often to iteratively enhance the quality of the AI’s outputs. This can also sometimes help it find errors or issues with its previous response.
Considering your previous answer, how would you…
Hypothetical Prompts
Hypothetical prompts encourage the AI to imagine and explore unreal or speculative scenarios. This technique is great for strategic planning, creative writing and envisioning future possibilities. I use it to help explore new ideas or to speculate potential outcomes. It’s also helpful when trying to work around any assumptions the model might be making.
If you had to make up a URL for a future web browser that supports millions of protocols and trillions of URL combinations, what would the full URL be? Remember, we don’t need to use HTTP, be creative.
Comparative Prompts
Comparative prompts compare and contrast different concepts, methods or strategies. This technique is effective for evaluating options and making informed decisions. I often use it to analyze the pros and cons of various approaches.
Discuss the impacts of traditional marketing versus digital marketing on consumer behavior.
Advanced Prompt Engineering Techniques
Chain of Thought (CoT)
Chain of Thought prompting guides the AI to follow a step-by-step reasoning process to arrive at a conclusion. This technique improves the logical flow and accuracy of responses, especially for complex problem-solving tasks. It ensures that the AI provides a detailed explanation for each step, leading to a well-reasoned final answer.
Original question? Use this format: Q: <repeat_question> A: Let’s think step by step. <give_reasoning> Therefore, the answer is <final_answer>.
Tree of Thought (ToT)
Tree of Thought prompting facilitates a multi-faceted exploration of problem-solving pathways by considering various possible solutions before deducing the most plausible one. This technique is particularly useful for complex tasks where multiple reasoning paths are viable. It helps in navigating through diverse hypotheses and systematically evaluating them to find the optimal solution.
For example, when planning a trip, break down the decision into branches such as flight options, train routes and car rentals. For each branch, consider the cost, feasibility and convenience before suggesting the best plan. While this can be done using ChatGPT, I’ve found it easier to implement via API with connectors to external services for access to real-time data.
Self-Consistency
Self-Consistency involves generating multiple answers to the same question and then evaluating their consistence to ensure accuracy. This method leverages the assumption that similar responses are more likely to be accurate. It’s particularly useful for fact-checking and ensuring the reliability of AI-generated content.
Generate three responses to the following question and choose the most consistent one: What are the main benefits of using renewable energy sources?
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
RAG incorporates external knowledge dynamically into the AI’s responses, enhancing them with up-to-date or specialized information not contained within its initial training data. This technique is handy for generating informed and contextually relevant outputs based on real-time or proprietary data.
For this technique, you currently need to use the API for embedding generation and then integrate it as a functional call within ChatGPT. I personally found it easier to just do outside of ChatGPT using a tool like Rivet.
Chaining
Chaining involves linking multiple prompts together in a sequence to accomplish complex tasks step-by-step. Each prompt builds on the previous one, allowing the AI to handle intricate workflows and multi-part queries effectively. This technique is particularly useful for detailed projects or comprehensive analysis that requires several stages of input and output.
I also use Rivet for most of my chained prompts. For example I can feed it reference text and a blog post idea and have it go through a series of prompts that perform the research, write the content and tailor it to match the tone and style of the reference text. This is also possible directly within ChatGPT by manually providing instructions over a series of several prompts.
As we navigate deeper into the vast universe of AI, the role of effective prompt engineering becomes increasingly significant. It’s a dynamic, ever-changing field that requires a keen understanding of the AI model’s capabilities, the task at hand and the desired outcome. While the techniques listed above offer a solid foundation, it’s crucial to remember that prompt engineering is as much an art as it is a science.
Prompt engineering is a vital component in the AI toolkit. It’s a creative process that requires a profound understanding of the AI model and its capabilities. The techniques outlined in this post are just the beginning. As we continue to experiment with various AI models and technologies, we can expect the emergence of new prompting strategies. In some ways, prompting may become easier and more intuitive. However as LLMs start to integrate into every facet of our home and professional lives, there will be countless new opportunities to learn and apply these new skills.