The Perfect ChatGPT Prompt Formula (Start With This!)

Brie Kirbyson
22 Sept 202313:02

TLDRThe video script outlines the 'perfect AI prompt formula' for generating high-quality outputs from AI tools like Chat GPT. It emphasizes five key elements: assigning a specific role to the AI, defining the action it should take, providing context to tailor the output, giving examples for the AI to learn from, and setting constraints and formatting instructions. The role can be general or modeled after a specific person, and the action can be a single task or a multi-step process. Context helps avoid generic responses, while examples guide the AI towards the desired output. Constraints actually boost creativity by limiting the AI's options, and formatting instructions ensure the output meets specific criteria. The video also introduces a tool called Text Blaze for automating frequent prompts and phrases, and concludes with a reminder to avoid common mistakes when using AI prompts.

Takeaways

  • 📝 **Assign a Specific Role**: Giving AI a role increases its accuracy and creativity, leading to better outputs.
  • 🎭 **Define the Action**: Clearly state the action or steps AI needs to take, whether it's a single action or a multi-step process.
  • 🌐 **Provide Context**: Include relevant context to avoid generic outputs and tailor the AI's response to your specific needs.
  • 📚 **Use Examples**: Providing examples helps AI to understand and replicate the style and quality of content you're looking for.
  • 🚫 **Set Constraints and Formatting**: Constraints focus AI's creativity, and formatting instructions guide how you want the output presented.
  • 🔄 **Multi-Shot Prompting**: Using examples is a form of multi-shot prompting that improves the AI's performance.
  • 📈 **Constraints Enhance Creativity**: More constraints can lead to more creative solutions, as they force AI to work within specific parameters.
  • 💡 **Text Blaze Integration**: Use tools like Text Blaze to automate and speed up the process of crafting effective prompts.
  • 📝 **Beginner Mistakes**: Be aware of common mistakes to avoid when crafting prompts for AI and use resources like a cheat sheet for guidance.
  • 📌 **Perfect Prompt Structure**: Combine role, action, context, examples, and constraints to create a comprehensive prompt for AI.
  • 🔍 **Identify Common Errors**: Watch out for and correct the most common mistakes in AI prompting to improve the quality of outputs.
  • ⚙️ **Customize for Specific Tasks**: Tailor the prompt structure to fit the task at hand, whether it's writing, generating ideas, or providing explanations.

Q & A

  • What is the key difference between a bland and generic prompt and one that produces brilliant results?

    -The key difference lies in the specificity and structure of the prompt. A brilliant prompt includes a specific role for the AI, clear actions, relevant context, examples, and constraints/formatting instructions, which together guide the AI to generate high-quality, tailored outputs.

  • How does assigning a specific role to the AI enhance its performance?

    -Assigning a specific role to the AI increases its accuracy and creativity by providing a clear framework for how the AI should approach the task, resulting in better outputs.

  • What is the significance of providing context in a prompt?

    -Providing context is crucial as it helps the AI understand the specific circumstances and requirements of the task, which in turn allows it to generate more relevant and personalized outputs.

  • Why are examples important when crafting a prompt?

    -Examples are important because they provide the AI with a reference point, guiding it to produce more accurate, creative, and useful outputs that align with the user's expectations.

  • How do constraints contribute to the creativity of AI outputs?

    -Constraints actually enhance creativity by forcing the AI to find innovative solutions within the given limitations, similar to how human creativity is often sparked by boundaries.

  • What is the role of formatting instructions in a prompt?

    -Formatting instructions guide the AI on how to present its output, such as using title case, numbers, or avoiding certain punctuation, ensuring the final result meets the user's formatting preferences.

  • Can you provide an example of a multi-step action prompt?

    -A multi-step action prompt might instruct the AI to first explain a concept clearly, then provide an analogy and an example, check for understanding, and proceed with further detailed instructions tailored to the task.

  • How does the Text Blaze tool integrate with the perfect prompt formula?

    -Text Blaze, a Chrome extension and Windows app, allows users to create shortcuts for frequently used phrases or paragraphs, which can be used to automate and speed up the process of crafting prompts, making it more efficient for both simple and complex tasks.

  • What are some common mistakes to avoid when using AI tools like Chat GPT?

    -Common mistakes include providing vague or overly broad prompts, not providing enough context, failing to include constraints or examples, and not utilizing tools that can automate and refine the prompt crafting process.

  • How does the perfect prompt formula help in avoiding generic outputs?

    -The perfect prompt formula helps avoid generic outputs by ensuring that each prompt is tailored with a specific role, action, context, examples, and constraints, which leads to more personalized and targeted AI responses.

  • What is the recommended number of examples to provide in a prompt?

    -The recommended number of examples varies depending on the task and the length of the desired output. For shorter tasks like subject lines, 10 examples might be appropriate, while for longer tasks like articles, 2 or 3 examples could suffice.

  • How can providing examples of your own writing help train the AI to write more like you?

    -Providing examples of your own writing allows the AI to 'learn' your style and preferences. The AI can then emulate that style in its outputs, resulting in content that closely matches your writing.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Crafting the Perfect AI Prompt

The first paragraph introduces the concept of crafting effective prompts for AI tools like chat GPT. It emphasizes the importance of giving AI a specific role to enhance its accuracy and creativity. The paragraph outlines a five-element formula for creating prompts that yield high-quality outputs. It also discusses the benefits of assigning AI a general or specific persona, such as a creative writing coach or a successful entrepreneur, to better tailor the AI's responses to the user's needs.

05:01

📚 The Power of Examples and Constraints in AI Prompts

The second paragraph delves into the fourth and fifth elements of the perfect AI prompt formula: examples and constraints. It explains that providing examples to AI leads to more creative, accurate, and useful outputs. The paragraph also discusses the use of constraints, which paradoxically can make AI more creative by forcing it to work within limitations. It provides practical advice on how to use these elements effectively, including the use of a tool like Text Blaze to automate and speed up the process of crafting prompts.

10:03

🎯 Putting the Perfect Prompt Formula into Action

The third paragraph brings together all the elements discussed and demonstrates how to apply the perfect prompt formula in practice. It outlines a structured approach to crafting prompts, starting with defining the AI's role, detailing the action, providing context, giving examples, and setting constraints and formatting instructions. The paragraph concludes with an offer to download a free AI prompts cheat sheet to help avoid common mistakes and ensure high-quality outputs from AI tools.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Prompt

A prompt is a question or statement used to elicit a response or initiate a conversation, especially in the context of AI. In the video, the term is used to describe the structured input given to AI to generate specific outputs, with the goal of avoiding generic responses and achieving high-quality, tailored results.

💡AI Prompt Formula

The AI Prompt Formula refers to a method or set of guidelines for constructing prompts that yield optimal results from AI tools. The video discusses a 'perfect' formula consisting of five key elements to include in prompts to get consistent high-quality outputs from AI.

💡Role

In the context of the video, 'role' refers to the specific character or function that the AI is assigned to play when generating a response. Assigning a role to AI is said to increase its accuracy and creativity, leading to better outputs. For instance, the AI could be given the role of a 'creative writing coach' or 'Darth Vader' to generate responses in line with those characters.

💡Action

Action in this script denotes the task or instruction given to the AI following the assignment of a role. It can be a single action or a series of step-by-step instructions that the AI is expected to follow. For example, 'write a resume' or 'explain fractional reserve banking' are actions that direct the AI to perform specific tasks.

💡Context

Context is the background information or specific details that are provided to the AI to help it generate outputs that are relevant and tailored to the user's needs. In the video, it is emphasized as a key element to avoid generic outputs. For instance, providing context about being a 'university biology student' helps the AI to generate a paper outline that is suitable for that specific academic level and field.

💡Examples

Examples are specific instances or previous outputs that are provided to the AI to guide it towards generating similar high-quality responses. In the video, it is mentioned that providing examples is a powerful way to train the AI to produce more personalized and effective outputs. For example, showing the AI 'high performing subject lines' can help it generate better email subject lines.

💡Constraints and Formatting

Constraints and formatting are the limitations and stylistic guidelines given to the AI to shape its output. Constraints are the 'do not do this' instructions, while formatting covers 'do this' in terms of presentation. In the video, it's explained that constraints can actually make AI more creative by forcing it to work within certain boundaries. For instance, instructing the AI to 'use title case formatting' or 'avoid exclamation marks' are formatting and constraint examples.

💡Multi-Shot Prompting

Multi-shot prompting, also known as few-shot prompting, is a technique where the AI is provided with multiple examples to learn from before generating a response. This method is highlighted in the video as a way to improve the creativity, accuracy, and usefulness of AI outputs. It's demonstrated that using examples can significantly enhance the quality of generated email subject lines.

💡Text Blaze

Text Blaze is mentioned in the video as a Chrome extension and Windows app that allows users to create shortcuts for frequently used phrases, tendencies, or paragraphs. This tool can be used to automate and speed up the process of crafting prompts, especially when using the same instructions or context repeatedly with AI tools.

💡Quality AI Outputs

Quality AI outputs refer to the high-quality, specific, and useful responses generated by AI tools when given well-structured prompts. The video emphasizes the importance of crafting prompts with clear roles, actions, context, examples, and constraints to achieve such outputs. Quality AI outputs are tailored to the user's needs and avoid being generic or bland.

💡Creative Writing Coach

In the script, a 'creative writing coach' is used as an example of a role that can be assigned to the AI. This role is meant to guide the AI in providing feedback and suggestions to help improve the user's writing. It illustrates how assigning specific roles can lead to more focused and relevant AI assistance.

💡Darth Vader

Darth Vader is used in the video as an example of a specific person role that can be given to the AI for generating a plan for establishing a Galactic Empire. This example demonstrates the versatility of assigning roles to AI, where the AI can take on the persona of a well-known character to generate themed responses.

Highlights

The perfect AI prompt formula involves five key elements to achieve high-quality outputs.

Assigning a specific role to AI increases its accuracy and creativity.

Giving AI a general role or a specific persona can enhance the output quality.

The action element in a prompt can be a single action or a multi-step instruction.

Context is crucial to avoid generic outputs and tailor the AI response to specific needs.

Using a tool like Text Blaze can automate and speed up the process of crafting prompts.

Examples, or multi-shot prompting, can significantly improve the creativity and accuracy of AI outputs.

Providing examples can train AI to write more in the style of the user.

Constraints and formatting are important for guiding AI to produce desired outputs.

Adding constraints can paradoxically make AI more creative by forcing it to solve problems within limits.

Formatting instructions can specify how the AI should structure its output.

Common mistakes to avoid when crafting prompts include being too vague or not providing enough context.

A cheat sheet is available to help eliminate common mistakes in crafting AI prompts.

The full prompt structure includes role, action, context, examples, and constraints/formatting.

The perfect prompt formula can be applied to a wide range of tasks involving AI.

It is important to correct and avoid fatal mistakes when using AI tools like Chat GPT.

The video provides a detailed example of how to use the perfect prompt formula for a YouTube thumbnail concept generator.

The transcript emphasizes the importance of each element in the prompt formula for effective AI interaction.

The perfect prompt formula ensures that AI tools are used to their full potential for specific tasks.