7 superior ChatGPT prompt-writing ideas you want to know

We have mentioned the best way to subject efficient prompts in earlier articles right here on ZDNET.

On this article, we’ll take it up a stage and have a look at extra superior AI prompting strategies. We’ve seven very attention-grabbing approaches that gives you a significantly better deal with on the best way to talk with ChatGPT and different generative AI instruments.

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This is the best way to stage up your ChatGPT utilization.

1. Specify output format

If you ask a query or give an project to ChatGPT, you possibly can specify the way it codecs the reply. Think about that you simply’re giving an project to a pupil, the place you would possibly specify how the project is to be formatted when turned in. Listed below are a couple of examples.

What are the longest highways in america? Checklist solely the highest 4 within the type of a bullet record.

Current that info in a desk

2. Inform it to format in HTML

You may specify quite a bit about how the outcomes are displayed. For instance, you possibly can have it generate a desk which you’ll be able to incorporate into an internet web page.

What are the longest highways in america? Checklist solely the highest 4. Current the outcomes as HTML.

You can also make that HTML greater by clicking the sq. within the higher proper nook of the screenshot. 

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This is the place it is attention-grabbing. It’s also possible to have that info introduced utilizing no matter fashion of HTML you want. There is a faculty of net design that does not like the standard desk tags, and prefers to current tables within the type of CSS. This is that model.

Current that info, however use CSS as an alternative of desk tags

3. Iterate with a number of makes an attempt

You typically have to work with the AI to assist it get to the outcome you need. Take our earlier CSS outcome. This is what it seems like:

Sadly, that is not as fairly as I might like. Let’s examine if we are able to treatment it.

Redo that, however please be sure the columns are all aligned. Make the headings a darker blue with white lettering introduced in all capitals and daring. Make every information row a lightweight grey, however range the degrees of grey so row 1 is gentle grey, row 2 is barely darker, row 3 is gentle grey, and so forth. Ensure the freeway title is introduced in daring.

I am not going to incorporate the generated code, as a result of it is lengthy. However we’re getting nearer:

Let’s attempt once more.

That output seems actually good, however the columns are nonetheless not aligned. Ensure the columns are large sufficient to accommodate the textual content with out wrapping, left align every thing, and ensure all of the columns (together with the headings) are completely aligned.

It is nearly precisely what we’re on the lookout for, however the route is wrapping. Let’s examine if we are able to repair that.

That is nearly precisely what I would like, however the route is wrapping. Please be sure the route information would not wrap both. Preserve every line of knowledge on precisely one line.

Do not ever assume that is simple. However for those who’ve ever taught programming to people, that is precisely the form of outcome you get again. It typically looks like they’re being passive-aggressive, nevertheless it’s extra probably that you simply did not specify your necessities fastidiously sufficient.

4. Do not be afraid to make use of lengthy prompts or units of prompts

It took fairly a couple of iterations to place collectively a immediate that reliably generated freeway info within the format I wished. One key strategy is to verify your immediate could be very particular, but in addition intensive sufficient to have sufficient info for the big language mannequin to completely perceive what you are asking.

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You may additionally want to switch your specification. I wound up eradicating the road:

Create a desk that makes use of solely CSS to format the rows, columns, and cells. Don’t use HTML desk tags.

As a substitute, I simply instructed it how I wished the desk to look and let it resolve the best way to implement it. This is my full, quite lengthy immediate:

I wrote that immediate in Elegant Textual content, a textual content editor, after which pasted it into ChatGPT. This is the outcome, which is strictly what I wished.

As you possibly can see, it selected so as to add a title, which was advantageous. However now that I’ve a working immediate, I can add some further tweaks. For instance, I went again and modified the columns specifier:

Create columns for the index quantity (label this “#”), freeway title, size, and route

I attempted altering “Restrict your reply to solely the highest 4” to “Restrict your reply to solely the highest 20” however the AI refused to fill in all the info for all 20. So I eliminated that line solely and added a brand new line on the very finish of the immediate:

For the aim of this venture, please present full information outcomes for the highest 20 highways.

This truly resulted in a partial HTML output. I needed to inform the AI to proceed, at which level it spit out the remainder of the HTML, ensuing on this:

5. Present express constraints to a response

You simply noticed how I modified some response constraints for the variety of solutions and the columns I wished introduced. However you need to use constraints for extra open-ended questions as properly.

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There are limits to one of these immediate. For instance, take this immediate:

Present a abstract of the important thing occasions in World Battle II as reported by main newspapers of the time.

As a result of the mannequin wasn’t educated on newspapers from World Battle II, it is unable to reply the query (though it does take a guess).

Likewise, you possibly can’t specify any outcomes from “the previous couple of years” because the mannequin’s information entry ends in 2021. That mentioned, you possibly can specify information that is inside the scope of the mannequin, like this:

Checklist main house missions between 2010 and 2020

Notice that we’re limiting by date. However we are able to add additional constraints. Let’s restrict to only these from the US:

Checklist main house missions carried out by NASA between 2010 and 2020

It’s also possible to return to the formatting strategy we mentioned and do one thing like this:

Checklist all main house missions carried out between 2010 and 2020. Group them by nation and house company. Make the title of the nation and house company daring.

And you may get much more express. Right here we embody continents and specify that any continents with out missions be excluded from the record.

Checklist all main house missions carried out between 2010 and 2020. Group them by continent. Make the title of the continent daring and all capital letters. Make the nation and house company title daring, with both title case or all caps if that is how the house company codecs its title (like NASA). If a continent didn’t have an area mission, don’t embody it on this record.

Apparently, the AI determined to have a little bit of a hallucinatory second. It correctly listed the missions and continents, however determined Russia is a continent. I ran it in a second session, and that point it didn’t suppose Russia was a continent.

6. Inform it variety of phrases, sentences, characters

Talking of constraints, you might have observed that ChatGPT tends to not be correct on the subject of phrase depend. In case you inform it to restrict its reply to 50 phrases, it typically goes lengthy or quick. That is as a result of the language mannequin works in tokens (representations of knowledge) that don’t immediately correspond to particular person phrases.

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For instance, once I instructed ChatGPT to “Summarize the Sport of Thrones TV present,” I bought again 294 phrases over six paragraphs. However you possibly can attempt to restrict the response. Check out quite a lot of limiting phrases till you identify what works finest for you. For instance:

Summarize the Sport of Thrones TV collection in 50 phrases 

Summarize the Sport of Thrones TV collection in 2 sentences 

Summarize the Sport of Thrones TV collection in lower than 200 characters 

Summarize the Sport of Thrones TV collection so it’ll slot in a tweet

This is one other place to bear in mind the restrictions of the AI mannequin. ChatGPT incorporates no coaching information after 2021. At the moment, a tweet was restricted to 280 characters. However as of February 2023, Twitter Blue subscribers can have tweets so long as 4,000 characters. Telling ChatGPT to suit one thing in a tweet tells it to restrict the response to 280 characters, as a result of that was the only restrict again in its day.

7. Give the AI the chance to judge its solutions

As we have typically mentioned, the AI typically “hallucinates,” offering very flawed solutions. It’s doable to assemble conversations with the AI to reach at extra exact solutions, by letting it present intermediate conclusions. Take this easy request:

Phrase much like devolve that begins with a B

As tough because it is perhaps to think about, ChatGPT reliably fails with this request, typically answering decay, degrade, degenerate and different phrases that start with a “D”.

There are a few challenges with this deceptively easy immediate. First, “devolve” has a number of meanings. It might probably imply switch or delegate, deteriorate or decline, or inherit or obtain by succession. To get a correct reply, we should be extra particular and provides it the overall that means we would like it to pursue. It additionally would not harm to assist it decide that means by telling it we’re on the lookout for a verb, quite than a noun.

Generate a verb that begins with the letter “B” and has an analogous that means to “devolve,” particularly indicating the thought of one thing deteriorating or getting worse.

The issue is, ChatGPT has a really tough time (once more, as a result of the way it represents data in tokens) of figuring out the primary letter of a phrase. So it is best to offer the AI time to determine that out.

Decide the primary letter of the generated verb

That is what AI consultants name “giving it time to breathe”. Relatively than simply speeding out with its first reply, this strategy offers the AI time to think about whether or not its reply is appropriate.

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As a result of the AI might not provide you with the precise reply the primary time, ask it to repeat the steps till it does:

And right here, it really works its method via till it finds a solution:

Discover the way it took the AI six tries earlier than it discovered the precise phrase, despite the fact that the standards existed for your entire sequence. The second double-check “breathe” gave it the chance to judge its reply and proceed till it succeeded.

Last ideas

One factor that is actually vital to notice is that the AI will not essentially do what you need proper out of the gate. On the final instance, it took me nearly two hours and about 20 tries to seek out the system that really labored for it to reliably generate a outcome.

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Whereas we’re at it, remember the fact that the AI remembers what went on within the present session. So whereas it would provide the proper reply within the present session, the acid take a look at is copying your immediate to a model new session and seeing if it really works there.

Keep tuned, as a result of not solely will I be again with extra superior immediate ideas, I am going to even be doing a little deeper dives into particular person prompting drawback solvers.

You may observe my day-to-day venture updates on social media. Make sure to observe me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Fb at Fb.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.