Prompt engineering – becoming an AI whisperer

[Draft 1-17-2025]

Introduction

So, prompt engineering [1] is much in the news, as to wrangling a generative AI to create desirable results, “deliver the goods.” And perhaps not just information; but with (a chosen) style, or tailored to your audience or personal context (like a butler or assistant that knows you really well, eh).

And, yes, there’re a bunch of books with titles like The AI Whisperer, …

Whisperer …

b : a person who is unusually skilled at calmly guiding, influencing, or managing other people [or AIs?]

c : a person considered to possess some extraordinary skill or talent in managing or dealing with something specified.

Kudos to ZDNET (David Gewirtz) for some excellent articles on becoming an AI whisperer. Outlining the craft: what you need to know, things to avoid, the process, tools, reasonable expectations, decision points (e.g., how to avoid “sour grapes”).

Introduction
ZDNET’s overview
Tom’s Guide Face-off – ChatGPT vs Grok
eWeek’s How to Become a Prompt Engineer
Forbes’ 10 Things ChatGPT Can Do
Forbes’ Success in an AI-driven World
TBS articles [or additional references in TBS comments]

ZDNET’s overview

This ZDNET article “The five biggest mistakes” (below after Tips & Quotes) provides a framework for creating successful prompts (but without examples). A summary of tips on how to avoid GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). A table of the “Biggest Prompting Mistakes.”

There are links to additional articles which provide some examples: for personal planning (preparing for a marathon, learning a language for a trip, understanding a business technology) and creative writing (excerpted below).

• “7 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts – and get the results you want faster” by David Gewirtz, Senior Contributing Editor (Dec 16, 2024)

Tips

Talk to the AI like you would a person
Set the stage and provide context
Tell the AI to assume an identity or profession
Keep ChatGPT on track
Tell the AI to re-read the prompt.
Don’t be afraid to play & experiment
Refine & build on previous prompts

Additional tips – quotes

(quote re level of literacy)

You can directly specify the complexity level by including it in your prompt. Add “… at a high school level” or “… at a level intended for a Ph.D. to understand” to the end of your question. You can also increase the complexity of output by increasing the richness of your input. The more you provide in your prompt, the more detailed and nuanced ChatGPT’s response will be. You can also include other specific instructions, like “Give me a summary,” “Explain in detail,” or “Provide a technical description.”

(quote re using audience profiles)

You can also pre-define profiles. For example, you could say “When evaluating something for a manager, assume an individual with a four-year business college education, a lack of detailed technical understanding, and a fairly limited attention span, who likes to get answers that are clear and concise. When evaluating something for a programmer, assume considerable technical knowledge, an enjoyment of geek and science fiction references, and a desire for a complete answer. Accuracy is deeply important to programmers, so double-check your work.”

If you ask ChatGPT to “explain C++ to a manager” and “explain C++ to a programmer,” you’ll see how the responses differ.

Excerpt (for creative writing)

[the prompt]

Write a short story for me, no more than 500 words [article explains why the limit].

The story takes place in 2339, in Boston. The entire story takes place inside a Victorian-style bookstore that wouldn’t be out of place in Diagon Alley. Inside the store are the following characters, all human:

The proprietor: make this person interesting and a bit unusual, give them a name and at least one skill or characteristic that influences their backstory and possibly influences the entire short story.

The helper: this is a clerk in the store. His name is Todd.

The customer and his friend: Two customers came into the store together, Jackson and Ophelia. Jackson is dressed as if he’s going to a Steampunk convention, while Ophelia is clearly coming home from her day working in a professional office.

Another customer is Evangeline, a regular customer in the store, in her mid-40s. Yet another customer is Archibald, a man who could be anywhere from 40 to 70 years old. He has a mysterious air about himself and seems both somewhat grandiose and secretive. There is something about Archibald that makes the others uncomfortable.

A typical concept in retail sales is that there’s always more inventory “in the back,” where there’s a storeroom for additional goods that might not be shown on the shelves where customers browse. The premise of this story is that there is something very unusual about this store’s “in the back.”

Put it all together and tell something compelling and fun.

[end of prompt]

[author’s commentary]

You can see how the detail provides more for the AI to work with. First, feed “Write me a story about a bookstore” into ChatGPT and see what it gives you. Then feed in the above prompt, and you’ll see the difference.

• “7 advanced ChatGPT prompt-writing tips you need to know” by David Gewirtz, Senior Contributing Editor (Oct 5, 2023)

Specify output format
Tell it to format in HTML
Iterate with multiple attempts
Don’t be afraid to use long prompts or set of prompts
Provide explicit constraints to a response
Tell it number of words, sentences, characters
Give the AI the opportunity to evaluate its answers

• ZDNET > “The five biggest mistakes people make when prompting an AI” by David Gewirtz, Senior Contributing Editor, reviewed by Elyse Betters Picaro (Jan 15, 2025) – Ready to transform how you use AI tools? Learn how to refine your prompts, avoid common pitfalls, and maximize the potential of generative AI tools.

[Table of contents]

Not being specific enough
Not specifying how you want the response formatted
Not remembering to clear or start a new session
Not correcting, clarifying, or guiding the AI after an answer
Not knowing when to give up [sour grapes, eh]

[Advice]

ChatGPT’s advice
Copilot’s advice
Grok’s grokkings
Gemini’s advice
Meta AI’s advice

[More tips]

How to be successful when writing prompts

Face-off

• tom’s guide > face-off > “I put ChatGPT vs Grok to the test with 7 prompts — here’s the winner” by Ryan Morrison (January 8, 2025) – Grok has come a long way in a very short time, going from a glorified “toy” feature in X to something rivaling the likes of ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s Gemini.

This is the latest in a series of head-to-head challenges [link] between leading AI models, all of which ChatGPT has won so far. I’ve put ChatGPT up against Gemini, then against Claude. I’ve also put Claude up against Google Gemini [link].

The [seven] prompts follow the same pattern as previous comparisons and include coding, creative writing, problem-solving and advanced planning.

.1. Image Generation

The prompt: “Create an image of a minimalist home office setup with these specific elements: A 34-inch ultrawide monitor mounted on a white wall, an ergonomic chair in sage green, a light oak standing desk, three hanging potted plants (must be monstera, pothos, and snake plant), and a MacBook Pro in space grey. The room should have large windows letting in natural light from the left side, with sheer white curtains. Include a grey Persian cat sleeping on a round cushion under the desk.”

…

.4. Creative Writing

Prompt: “Write a heartwarming story about two people who meet while waiting in line for a new product launch. The story must include: specific details about the product they’re waiting for, at least three interactions between them before the store opens, a surprising connection they discover, and a flash-forward to one year later. Keep it under 500 words.”

Becoming a prompt engineer

This article by eWeek’s Liz Ticong is a comprehensive guide to becoming a generative AI whisperer. Useful diagrams, lists, even online AI training courses.

• eWeek > “How to Become a Prompt Engineer (2025): The Path to Success” by Liz Ticong (September 20, 2024) – Discover what it takes to become a prompt engineer, from understanding the key skills to gaining practical experience and advancing in this growing field.

DEFINITION (quoted)

A prompt engineer shapes artificial intelligence outputs by crafting precise, context-rich prompts to guide the AI model in generating relevant and accurate responses.
Prompt engineering is a growing career that bridges human language and AI, requiring a mix of linguistic, technical, and creative skills.
As AI technologies become increasingly integrated into diverse enterprise applications – particularly generative AI – the demand for skilled prompt engineers is growing rapidly.
Learning how to become a prompt engineer involves developing the right skills, completing a range of training, and gaining hands-on experience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS (quoted)

Prompt engineers work in various sectors, including customer service, healthcare, education, and creative industries. (Jump to Section)
After learning the basics, there are certifications you can complete to acquire advanced prompt engineering skills. (Jump to Section)
While prompt engineering introduces significant benefits, prompt engineers also encounter some challenges that must be addressed, including complex models, biases, sensitive data, insufficient training data, and collaboration. (Jump to Section)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is Prompt Engineering?
Understanding the Role of a Prompt Engineer
How to Become a Prompt Engineer
Career Development in Prompt Engineering
3 Courses for Continuous Learning and Professional Growth
Real-World Contributions of Prompt Engineers
Overcoming Prompt Engineering Challenges
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Bottom Line: Learning How to Become Prompt Engineer Starts With Building AI and Language Skills

[excerpt]

Real-World Contributions of Prompt Engineers

Customer Service Automation: Prompt engineers design interaction flows with AI chatbots and virtual assistants that handle customer queries and give customized solutions. By fine-tuning interactions, AI systems accurately interpret and appropriately respond to user needs, boosting customer satisfaction.

Healthcare Solutions: In the healthcare sector, prompt engineers refine AI outputs to aid with medical diagnosis support and patient interactions. Their prompts ensure that the AI delivers relevant and precise medical information.

Content Generation: They compose prompts for AI systems that produce articles, marketing copy, and other content types. With their efforts, the AI-generated content meets the user’s desired style, tone, and context.

Educational Tools: Prompt engineers write inputs for educational AI applications that facilitate learning new concepts. These prompts make sure that the AI tools provide clear and error-free responses.

Creative Arts: In the creative field, they design prompts that guide generative AI tools to produce artwork or music. Prompt engineers help shape the AI’s output to meet particular artistic visions and goals.

Business Analytics: They craft detailed inputs that guide AI tools to analyze business data and generate valuable information. Skilled prompt engineers support deriving actionable insights from complex data sets.

10 ChatGPT things

• Forbes > “10 Things You Didn’t Know ChatGPT Could Do” by Jodie Cook, Senior Contributor (Jan 10, 2025) – Team productivity beyond simple questions and simple answers.

Create keyboard shortcut guides
Review terms and conditions [a shout-out to Jeff!]
Build your SEO strategy
Write your standard operating procedures [like for a health club?]
Find funding opportunities
Spot patterns in customer feedback [like re hospitality friction points, eh]
Create job descriptions that attract talent
Turn complex data into simple visuals
Design your lead magnet
Write spreadsheet formulas that work

AI job success

The future of the creator economy? Will AI ease effort and emphasize creativity? Do forecasts of AI boosts resemble Victorian steam tech hubris …

• Forbes > “The One Skill That Will Define Success In An AI-Driven World” by Chris Westfall, Contributor (Jan 15, 2025) – Will AI lead to a more flexible workforce?

By 2034, traditional 9-to-5 jobs will become obsolete, giving way to more flexible and dynamic work structures. That’s one of many bold predictions from LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman. And Hoffman has a pretty strong track record when it comes to betting on the future.

TIPS

Slow down to go fast (separate signal from static)
Two heads are better than one (the power of conversation)
Cultivate vital soft skills (e.g., collaboration)

Notes

[1] Wiki > Prompt engineering

A prompt is natural language text describing the task that an AI should perform. A prompt for a text-to-text language model can be a query such as “what is Fermat’s little theorem?”, a command such as “write a poem in the style of Edgar Allan Poe about leaves falling”, or a longer statement including context, instructions, and conversation history. Prompt engineering may involve phrasing a query, specifying a style, choice of words and grammar, providing relevant context, or assigning a role to the AI such as “act as a native French speaker”.

[2] Apple Intelligence > Pages > Compose > ChatGPT prompt > …

• Macworld > “Where is Apple Intelligence on my Mac?” by Roman Loyola, Senior Editor (Jan 20, 2025) – Looking for Apple Intelligence features on your Mac? Here’s how to get Apple’s AI features including ChatGPT and Image Playground on your Mac.