Learn the most important rule in prompt engineering: be clear and specific. Understand how to avoid ambiguity and provide precise instructions for better AI responses. Lecture 03
The Golden Rule
Welcome back! If you remember only one thing from this entire course, let it be this: The quality of your prompt determines the quality of your answer.
The single best way to improve your prompts is to make them as clear and specific as possible. An AI is not a mind reader; it can only work with the information you provide.
What is Ambiguity and Why is it Bad?
Ambiguity means something is unclear or can be understood in more than one way. AIs struggle with ambiguity. If your prompt is vague, the AI has to guess what you mean, and its guess might be wrong.
Example of an Ambiguous Prompt
Vague Prompt:Write about the new Apple phone.
Problems:
- Which “new” phone? The latest model? The one announced last year?
- What should the AI write about? Its features? Its price? Reviews?
- Who is this for? A tech expert? A casual buyer?
How to Be Clear and Specific
To fix ambiguity, you need to add details. Think about exactly what you want and write it down. Let’s improve the previous prompt.
Vague Prompt
Write about the new Apple phone.
Specific Prompt
Explain the main camera improvements of the iPhone 16 Pro in a short, bulleted list for someone who is not a professional photographer.
See the difference? The specific prompt tells the AI:
- Topic: Main camera improvements
- Product: iPhone 16 Pro
- Format: Bulleted list
- Audience: Not a professional photographer
This leaves no room for guessing and will result in a much better, more useful answer.
Another Example: From Vague to Specific
Vague Prompt:Create a story.
Specific Prompt:Write a short, happy story (about 100 words) for a 5-year-old child about a talking squirrel named Squeaky who finds a giant acorn.
Key Takeaways from Lecture 03
- Clarity is King: Always aim to be as clear as possible.
- Avoid Ambiguity: Don’t use words that can have multiple meanings without clarification.
- Add Details: The more relevant details you provide (topic, format, audience, length), the better the result.
- Pretend you’re talking to a very literal-minded person: This will force you to be more specific in your instructions.
End of Lecture 03. You now know the most important secret to great prompting! Next, we’ll learn how to give the AI background information to improve its answers even more.
