How to Use Prompts for AI

AI is a powerful tool used to create, and in the right way it can be used to change how we work in every way within the humanities fields. By wielding AI as an asset and partner through excellent prompt writing, we each can have our very own version of a personal assistant on the go. To better understand how to write a good AI prompt, it is first important to understand what AI prompt writing is. Typically, one would think of writing something that will inspire a greater result. For example, a prompt might be for an assignment: “Write about a specific moment in history that impacted architecture.” A prompt might also be meant to inspire a creative piece, such as: “Write a poem about your favourite colour and how it makes you feel.” For AI prompt writing, the approach to prompt writing differs as we need to work alongside the various platforms that exist to create an output from the AI itself. “In plain English, an AI prompt is text or information you provide to the AI model to generate its output. In other words, it's a command that you give the tool and it tries to do it” (Delgado, 2023).

AI prompts help us create outputs of content from images, to prose, to film proposals, to anything and everything in between. As students looking to become humanities professionals, we must explore how to write a successful prompt to generate an ideal outcome. It is important to focus on how the prompt we input is actually used as a collaborative work alongside AI as the AI processes the prompt to create the exact results we are striving for. Ultimately, the best way to work with AI is to be as specific as possible within our inputs to help generate an output that still holds onto our humanness that AI itself cannot replicate. 

Using AI and writing prompts alongside it is a vast and wonderful skill that can be used in both academic and professional capacities. It is a skill that can be relevant to any job, especially roles related to the humanities. The ability to write good prompts that can be inputted into AI software is an invaluable skill that can generate excellent results for success and help one remain relevant in an increasingly digital world. Excelling in AI prompt writing can lead to growth in all different types of roles in the professional world. It can help a writer generate new ideas for the plot, characters, or theme in a creative piece. Prompt writing can also assist marketing and public relations professionals in creating new internal or external campaigns. It can even aid a researcher to come up with audiences they can utilise through surveys or note an audience to appeal to with their growing work. 

The role of “AI prompt writer” has become a job title with growing importance across industries globally, and is especially accessible and well-suited for those with creative backgrounds. In recent years, it has opened the doors for many, especially with the widening knowledge that you “do not need a computer science background” to succeed in this professional space (Shoffman, 2023). The ability to incorporate such creativity into these professional spaces has helped people get their foot in the door of industries that may have previously been inaccessible to them.

The best way to write a prompt for AI is to ensure that you know what your goal is and what you want to gain from the intelligence before you even begin using it (Eitan, 2023). Once you know your goal, you should work towards writing an original prompt for your AI tool by providing specific details and telling the software exactly what you want it to do and what you want it to avoid (Eitan, 2023). It’s important to keep in mind that the AI technology doesn’t always know what the writer means when using general terms, which means it is best to remain unambiguous. For example, professional promptwriter Marc Shoffman states in his article for Business Insider, “I'm an AI-prompt engineer. Here are my 3 requirements for writing a prompt for chatbots like ChatGPT” that “...the command, ‘Make this paragraph better,’ assumes the language model knows whether that means longer, shorter, clearer, or less boring. Though this may be intuitive to you, it isn't explicitly clear to the language model. It would be better to say, ‘improve the paragraph above by removing all grammatical errors’” (Shoffman, 2023). It is necessary to be direct when writing an AI prompt, as this helps to cut down the back-and-forth communication between the prompt writer and the AI software. By using less subjective language such as “use a more academic tone” or “don’t use nondescript language” instead of using more vague prompts such as “write a good paragraph” or “don’t use bad words”, we as prompt writers can save time and better curate the outputs we desire.

Learning how to write good prompts for working with AI technologies is a skill that is incredibly helpful in many aspects of our lives and especially beneficial within the humanities field. In a world where AI is rapidly growing, it is easy to become scared of it–but it is not something we should be backing away from. Instead, we should keep in mind that AI can only function when given the proper human collaboration. Without us, AI simply cannot work. It would only be capable of merely churning out poor content that could never compete with what humans can and always will continue to make. One prime example of this is to remember how AI works if it is “given poorly crafted prompts, AI tools will create mediocre content — or even content that gets penalised on Google (e.g., content that's low value and low quality). But, done properly, it can produce spectacular results" (Delgado, 2023).

Learning how to write strong AI prompts is an imperative skill, as it can lead to a plethora of professional opportunities. In daily life, AI and working with it can lead to further creative thinking and abilities to exit creative blocks or ruts that were previously much harder to escape. When given detailed prompts, AI software can bring out missing audiences/perspectives possibly not considered before (i.e. a demographic for an advertisement), outline great new ideas, and even narrow down tasks or projects with large scopes (i.e. breaking down achievable steps to get to a final goal), assist with the development of new campaigns and projects, and so much more. With AI, our ability to connect to the world through the humanities lens is endless. We are opening new doors every day, and with AI as our partner those doors will only be opened wider. It is the greatest co-worker we could ask for in a competitive world when we learn how to use it as an asset rather than a threat. I, for one, cannot wait to see what the world comes up with when we learn how to use AI as our ally rather than our opponent. 

Examples of adequate prompt writing, good prompt writing, and working with AI to adjust the output from an adequate prompt:

Adequate Prompt Writing: Click to Enlarge

Good Prompt Writing: Click to Enlarge

Working with AI to Adjust the Output from an Adequate Prompt: Click to Enlarge

References:

Delgado, R. P. (2023) ‘What Is an AI Prompt Engineer and Why Do I Need One for My Business in 2024?’, Fiverr, 16 February. Available at: https://www.fiverr.com/resources/guides/business/ai-prompt-writer (Accessed: 3 April 2024).

Goldstein, E. (2023) ‘Three Tips to Master the Art of AI Prompt Writing’, PR News (Online), 20 June. Available at: https://www.prnewsonline.com/three-tips-to-master-the-art-of-ai-prompt-writing/# (Accessed: 3 April 2024).

Shoffman, M. (2023) ‘I’m an AI-prompt engineer. Here are my 3 requirements for writing a prompt for chatbots like ChatGPT’, Business Insider, 29 June. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-become-an-ai-prompt-engineer-skills-needed-2023-6 (Accessed: 4 April 2024).