Generative AI

AI prompting, or prompt engineering, is the process of crafting input given to an AI model to intentionally guide it toward generating a specific or desired response. You can think of them as a way to begin a conversation with an AI model or tool.

Why does good prompting matter?

• Good prompts help the AI help you!
• How you word your prompts greatly influences the interactions and output quality.
• Optimizing your prompt structure helps the AI provide the desired output in fewer iterations.

Tips for creating better prompts:

• Be specific - Provide a clear objective for what you want the model to achieve. The more specific the prompt, the more specific and focused the generated output will be.
• Provide context - Be sure to include any information the model might need in order to successfully perform the task asked of it.
• Assign a role - Give the model a persona or role to assume (i.e. "As an expert financial analyst, please explain...").

Consider using the Role, Task, Format method for creating better prompts:

• Role - the persona or role the AI tool will adopt when responding to prompts. You can think of this like asking the AI tool to play a character, like a teacher, interviewer, or life coach.
• Task - the specific objectives, goals, or actions that the AI tool should undertake when responding to prompts.
• Format - the format in which output will appear. This could be a list, spreadsheet, table, or graph--anything you can think of, really!

Example of a prompt created using the RTF method:

"You are a senior IT consultant with expertise in enterprise infrastructure and cloud computing. Explain the pros and cons of migrating a mid-sized company’s on-premise servers to a cloud-based infrastructure. Present the response in a comparison table with two columns: "Pros" and "Cons"."

This prompt provides a clear role for the AI tool to assume, a clear task to perform, and a specific output format. This kind of structured prompt helps the AI understand your expectations more clearly and generate a focused, useful response.