The prompt blog

Getting started

Writing a Clear Request in a Single Sentence

One deliverable, one reader, one goal, the facts, a form: the single sentence that's enough for most requests to AI, with an example from start to finish.

3 min read

Getting started

10 beginner mistakes that ruin your prompts

A catch-all instruction, empty adjectives, a summary request with no text pasted in: the 10 most common prompt mistakes and the exact fix for each.

4 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

Getting started

Let AI Ask You Questions Before It Answers

When you don't know what to specify, flip the roles: the prompt that makes AI interview you, its settings, and how to get out of an endless interrogation.

3 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

Sell your prompts

How much should a prompt cost: how to set your price

Time saved, service fee, payout threshold: a simple method for choosing a prompt's price without underselling it or overpricing it.

6 min read

By tool

Generating images in ChatGPT: what changes in the prompt

In ChatGPT, you ask for an image in conversation and correct it one sentence at a time. How to describe the scene, add text, and iterate without starting over.

3 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

By tool

Running an AI model on your own computer

What a locally installed AI model makes possible: privacy, the hardware you need, tools to get started, and how to adapt your prompts to a small model.

6 min read