In order to get the most out of AI tools, you need to provide background information and more detail. Asking only superficial questions gives very general and perhaps inaccurate information. We encourage you to follow the CREATE framework explained below when crafting your generative AI prompts to get the most helpful information from these tools.
Your first sentence in your prompt should tell the generative AI tool what role or character you want it to play while responding to you. You might tell the generative AI tool to act as a marketing expert with 20 years experience, or an expert python coder, or a national best-selling author who specializes in creative writing.
Your next sentence should ask the generative AI tool to perform a specific task. Be as specific as possible with detail and context in this section.
This section is optional, but can be very useful. If you have examples of what a good response to your prompt looks like, provide that to the generative AI tool as an example of what you are looking for. This will increase the usefulness of the response you receive quite a bit because the AI can mimic the patterns found in this good example to provide a better response.
Generative AI is meant to be a tool to facilitate a conversation, so asking one prompt, getting a response, and moving on is not the most ideal way to use these tools. Once you get a response, you should ask the generative to tweak its result to better match what you are looking for, or dive into a certain aspect of the response in greater depth. Don't hesitate to tell the tool where it went wrong and how to do it differently to give a better response. These adjustments are key to getting what you hope for out of a generative AI tool.
This sentence should tell the generative AI exactly what kind of format you would like to see your output in. This may be things like paragraph form, table, bulleted list, poem, or may include things like word limit or length.
Including these extras are optional, but can help you receive better responses:
If you are starting a conversation, you may want to tell the generative AI to ignore everything you've talked about before and start the conversation with a fresh start.
Ask the generative AI to ask you to answer follow up questions that it needs to understand before providing its response to you.
Ask the generative AI tool to explain its thinking or show its work when giving you an answer, so you can see the final answer, but also where it came up with the answer. You can follow this path to see if it is accurate or not, or where it may have gone in a direction you did not anticipate.
**The CREATE prompt engineering framework and these tips for getting the most out of a generative AI tool came from Dave Birss, popular AI author and public speaker. To learn more, check out his LinkedIn Learning Course titled, How to Research and Write Using Generative AI Tools. You will need to access LinkedIn Learning using your Fisher account to access this content.
Try these other strategies in addition to the CREATE framework:
Try talking into your AI tool instead of typing. Most AI tools now have the option to use your microphone to talk directly into the tool instead of typing your entire prompt. Most people provide more detail and context in a request that is spoken than a request that is typed. This is also a great way to make sure you are having a conversation with the AI tool which includes a back and forth flow of information from both sides.
Ask questions in complete sentences. Unlike a Google search, you should not be typing only keywords. Generative AI models are built to have a conversation, so ask questions as if you were talking to a person, not a computer.
Provide context around the question you are asking. The AI does not have any context or background information to what you are asking about. You must provide any specific information you want to be included, a description of who your audience is, and who the AI should be creating in the style of, as well as the ideal format you want the output to be like. For example, you may suggest the output is written in formal tone, informal tone, or in academic language, etc. depending on what you are looking for from the tool.
Continue to refine your results. Remember, that the AI will remember everything that you’ve told it within the given conversation. So that means if the first response you get is not quite what you were looking for, keep asking questions or giving more detailed instructions about how you want the output to look. The more time you spend in a conversation, the better you will be able to receive helpful information.
Give the AI attachments or text to work with. Don’t be afraid to attach files or copy and paste some text for the system to work with. For example, enter a portion of a research article or a textbook and ask the system to summarize the text for you in common language. This is a great way to get another perspective on a piece of text, especially one that may be more complicated. Perhaps the system can help you understand that content in a different way.
Ask the same prompt again. You can ask the AI tool the same prompt again and again and it will provide a new answer each time. You can then generate three or four examples of responses and take what you like best from each one and add your own contributions to make a really great resource.
Explore these additional resources to help create the best AI prompts: