28 Expert Tips for Better ChatGPT Prompts
▼ Summary
– Prompt engineering, using specific wording or instructions, can significantly improve the quality and usefulness of ChatGPT responses.
– Instructing ChatGPT to act like a curious 10-year-old can help uncover weak points in your ideas by asking critical questions.
– The ChatGPT phone app allows you to take photos and include them in your prompts for tasks like identifying landmarks or insects.
– Using the “80-20 rule” in a prompt helps ChatGPT provide the most essential information on a topic, allowing for quick learning.
– ChatGPT can remix or improve upon existing pictures you upload, using a prompt to specify the desired changes.
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini have democratized access to advanced technology, enabling anyone to generate poems, write code, explore philosophy, or automate tasks on virtually any subject. But while you can type almost anything into a chatbot and get a coherent response, the real magic happens when you refine your approach. This practice, known as prompt engineering, is emerging as a specialized skill that can dramatically elevate the quality of your results.
Sometimes, adding just a few extra words or a single line of instruction can transform a generic reply into something far more insightful and useful. Below, we share 28 expert tips to help you get the most out of your AI interactions. Note that while many of these work with the free version of ChatGPT, a few require a paid ChatGPT Plus subscription, which we’ll flag where relevant.
Get ChatGPT to Critique Your Ideas Like a Curious 10-Year-Old
AI chatbots can be overly agreeable, but you can counter that with a clever prompt. Ask ChatGPT to act like an inquisitive, curious 10-year-old who loves asking questions and wants to help. Then, have it offer feedback on your ideas.
Whether you’re planning a vacation or brainstorming a side hustle, this childlike interrogation will expose weak points and potential pitfalls you might have missed. Instead of hearing that everything sounds great, you’ll get probing questions that force you to think more critically.
Use Your Phone Camera as a Prompting Tool
In the ChatGPT mobile app, you can leverage your device’s camera to include photos in your prompts. For example, you could ask, “How tall is this landmark?” or “What type of insect is this?” or “What does this sign say in English?” Simply tap the + (plus) button on the prompt box, select Camera, and snap a photo to accompany your question.
Ask for the 80-20 on Any Topic
ChatGPT can be an excellent learning resource, but it sometimes delivers an overwhelming flood of information. To make it more efficient, invoke the 80-20 rule in your prompt. Based on the Pareto principle, this concept suggests that 20 percent of the effort yields 80 percent of the results. In practice, you can ask ChatGPT for “the 80-20 on…” a topic, and it will distill the most essential information. This approach works for historical periods, bands, scientific concepts, movies, and more, helping you get up to speed quickly.
Turn Your Doodles into Polished Images
Beyond generating images from scratch, ChatGPT can remix your existing pictures. Tap or click the + (plus) button on the prompt box, then choose Add photos & files (on desktop) or Files (on mobile) to upload one or more images. Then, use your prompt to explain what you want next,whether it’s improving a sketch, adding details, or transforming it into a different style.
(Source: Wired)
