Advanced techniques

Advanced techniques

Prompt Chaining: Break a Complex Task Into Steps

One giant prompt gives you mediocre results across the board. A complete four-link example on a grant application, with the checks to run along the way.

5 min read

Advanced techniques

Telling AI What Not to Do: Does It Work?

"Don't use the word artisanal" and the word comes back. When a negative instruction holds, when it fails, and how to rephrase or check it.

3 min read

Advanced techniques

Ask for Three Versions, Then Choose

A single answer forces you to accept or refuse. Three well-framed, genuinely different versions let you compare. The prompt and how to decide.

3 min read

Advanced techniques

Extracting information from messy text

Email replies, meeting notes, WhatsApp messages: how to pull dates, names, and decisions out of disorganized text, with the evidence for every line.

4 min read

Advanced techniques

Getting AI to Really Critique Your Text

Ask AI "what do you think?" and it congratulates you. How to get a critique that points out your text's real flaws, with two prompts to copy.

5 min read

Advanced techniques

Devil's advocate: getting the AI to argue against your ideas

When you present a project to the AI, it agrees with you. How to ask it for the strongest objections, or to imagine the failure, before you commit.

3 min read

Advanced techniques

Getting AI to Write in Your Style: The Complete Method

"Write like me" doesn't work. How to build a style sheet from your own texts, and hunt down the tics that give away generated text.

5 min read

Advanced techniques

Few-Shot Prompting: Guiding the AI by Example

Two or three well-chosen examples replace a long paragraph of instructions. How to select them, present them and avoid slavish copying.

5 min read

Advanced techniques

Scoring AI Answers With a Rubric

How to build a scoring rubric with four or five criteria to compare two prompts or two answers, and use it without fooling yourself.

4 min read

Advanced techniques

Prompt injection: understanding the risk and protecting yourself

An email, a web page, or a résumé can contain orders that the AI carries out for you. How it works, when it's serious, and the protections that help.

6 min read

Advanced techniques

Writing good instructions for an AI agent

An agent acts; it doesn't just answer. How to give it a goal, limits, and stopping conditions, with two briefs to copy.

5 min read

Advanced techniques

Custom Instructions, GPTs, and Projects: The Practical Guide

Stop repeating who you are in every conversation. What to put in custom instructions or a project, with ready-made templates.

5 min read