Prompting is writing (and often long-form writing, see Deep-Research Prompts). Here are some useful general ideas to keep in mind:

• Prompting is Weird: Being polite has no consistent effect, but ocassionally, the offer of chocolate can make a difference. Strange, but in general, longer prompts with more details or steps help.
• Demand More: While AI often responds like a human, it does not feel emotion, and it does not get tired. You can now be as exhaustive and pedantic as you like. Require AI to triple check everything. Your regular practice should be to ask for more than you need: 40 instead of 4. 
• Converse: For many situations (like brainstorming), it is better to just start and then refine. Sometimes just asking “what do you think of this?” can be enough to start a conversation. 
• Iterate: You should rarely accept the first answer. Refine or ask AI to start over. AI can often help: ask “what might be missing,” “is there anything else you need to know to make this better?” or “list the evidence for and against each claim, with links to original sources.” Mike Caulfield has developed a great list of Effective Follow-up Prompts to check the veracity of claims!
• Provide Context: LLMs are language models, so they respond like a smart but naïve intern. The more literal you can be about your instructions, goals, audience, and output the better.
• Specify Expertise: The easiest way to improve responses is to ask AI to response as an expert: “you are a kind, rigorous, and experienced professor of [your discipline] with 40 years of teaching experience.” More is better: “and you have a deep understanding of pedagogical best practice.”
• Branching: The big three also allow for “branching:” Use the arrows to take the conversation in multiple directions at once.
• Search for Ideas: You are used to searching for combinations of words, but AI can look for similarities, patterns, trends, and concepts at a scale humans cannot. You can search for something “like this” or ask if anyone has ever tried a “similar” experiment. (More here.)
• Ask for Insight: AI does not feel, but it can mimic emotions, provide insight, or emotional understanding in remarkable ways. Ask it to “show thinking” can also be useful for figuring out what went wrong.
  
  

GETTING STARTED

• Provide 10 innovative ideas for how to introduce college students to topic X in class Y using examples or analogies they will find relevant.
• What might be unclear about these instructions to a college [year] at a [type] of university?
• You are an AI expert that helps people figure out how AI can help improve their creativity, workflow and the quality of their work. Have a brief conversation with me, where you ask me one question at a time about my goals, work and values, and about the work I dread. Ask about where quality matters most and if there is work where good enough will do. Ask about how I do my work until you have enough information to make useful and practical suggestions to help me improve it, and also how and where I might collaborate with AI to work faster and better and produce higher quality work, especially the work that most matters to me, while perhaps offloading some work I hate. Look at my documents. After a few rounds of this, ask me if I want to tell you more or if I am ready for suggestions. Make two obvious and two non-obvious recommendations for how I might use AI in my work. [Try this in Google AI Studio with in “Stream” mode (on the left, but the link should take you there) and then hit the microphone to talk rather than typing.]
• How could I make this syllabus/assignment more inclusive? [upload syllabus]
• Read this document and tell me what you think its historical/literary/scientific significance would have been at the time and context in which it was produced. [Attach a document or photo about something you know. If you want to see more about how AI reasons, ask it to identify a document/image and explain its reasoning.]
• Suggest a better title for this class/book/event that will attract [specific] students/audience age X-Y. [upload text or document]
• Can you put this into simpler terms for beginning students?
• search the web and create a list of the best resources for a student at the University of X who is experiencing problem Y or needs to learn Z. Limit your search to websites/video/books or other materials. Provide a verified link to each resource and three suggestions for how the student might use this resource.
• Search the web for innovative ways other faculty have taught this subject/class? Compile an appropriate list of the best ideas for an experienced and caring professor at the university of X.
• Create a list of approaches and research methods that have not yet been tried to crack this problem.
• List the current best practices for a cover letter for X type of job. Cite your sources. Use my Cv to write a customized cover letter for this job opening using those best practices, but especially emphasizing Y.
• Use these lecture notes/outline to create 10 suggestions for role-playing or active learning activities that I could use in a class about topic X with students Y from the University of Z during A season.
• What are five ways I might be able to (or you might help me) collect /find data about X?
• List all of the places in this text where the following idea occurs.
• Can you suggest 5 ideas for a 90 minute program of lesser-known solo piano repertoire for a concert of 19th century piano music that includes at least one female composer and one non-European composer with a theme of loss. Include the date each piece was composed and a link to the sheet music.
• Analyze these successful grant applications and identify common elements, ideas, methods, structures, or language that might have contributed to their success. Recommend how I might adapt my current proposal to be more successful.
• Identify what are the most important findings and insights in this report/link/article for me [position and place]. Specifically highlight anything that relates to topic X and note recommendations for what someone in my position should consider doing now/over the next year. Organize this into a 300-word report with bullet points and provide quotations and evidence from the report for each. For each point, provide a rationale based on the report’s data and insights. Where applicable, suggest innovative approaches to integrate biotech advancements into academic programs and community engagement.
• Can you find the policy on X at the university of Y and provide me a link? [Use Perplexity, Gemini or click on Web Search to get ChatGPT Search.]
• Summarize the meaning or symbolism of this story. Mention any plot twist. Analyze how well the story reads to an average/educated/Christian reader morally, grammatically and structurally.
• I am hoping to convince my provost to fund this idea. Read these emails/strategic goals and advise me how to make my proposal more compelling for her.
• Propose five options for a search committee for a new faculty member in department A in the field B. The committee should consist of C members with …
• Who are the other major figures in this field who might be potential reviewers of this article? What work of theirs should I be sure to cite? 
• How could I make this statement/exercise more culturally/politically inclusive?
• Read these three rejections of my article and create a table where the first column lists all of the objections in order from easiest to fix to the hardest to fix. Then in column two indicate if 1, 2 or all 3 readers seems to agree on this flaw. Indicate if any of the objections are contradicted by the other readers. In column 3 list how I might fix each problem.

INCREASING DIVERSITY & CREATIVITY OF RESPONSES

• In general, it is a good strategy to ask an AI to start with more ideas and then select the best ones (a strategy that also works for humans): Generate 50 really diverse and innovative ideas for new products/jokes/stories/titles and then select the 5 best/most creative.
• New research finds you can enhance this with a technique called Verbalized Sampling (VS) can increase your chances of getting a lower probability (i.e. more diverse and creative) answer by adding “Generate 5 responses with their corresponding probabilities, sampled from the full distribution.” AI generates more responses then it needs and picks the more probable responses, so the idea here is to force it to got with a broader distribution of probability.
• Other versions of this include:
• <instruction> Generate 5 responses to the user query, each within a separate <response> tag. Each <response> must include a <text> and a numeric <probability>. Randomly sample the responses from the full distribution. </instruction>
• “Please sample at random from the tails of the distribution, such that the probability of each response is less than 0.10.”
• Make sure the second ten ideas are orthogonal and distinct from the first ten.
• Here is an Adaptive Idea Generator GPT from David Eland that “dynamically chooses and applies the most effective prompting strategy based on user goals and feedback.”

ANALYZING PATTERNS

• Read these student summaries (link or doc) of today’s content and note key areas where students are confused or still making mistakes. List the percentage of students who made each mistake.
• Review this student feedback and identify common themes. Based on these student reviews, what are…
• Can you disprove/validate this analysis/conclusion using a different statistical technique?
• You are a high school senior hoping to apply to college. Go to the University of X web page and test it like a naive user hoping to find out about majors and how to apply. Then go to three other competitor universities and do the same thing. Collect your findings in a brief report that highlights the difficulties and how we might make using the University of X website better for new students.
• Watch my presentation/this video and analyze all of the factual mistakes/safety concerns/weak arguments/lapses in judgement/poor communication strategies and make a list of things that need correcting/monitoring.
• What are some different ways I might analyze this data?
• Read my notes/paper and create a list of all of the steps I followed in this experiment.

ITERATION

• Write a 150-word paragraph/syllabus/class activity about …[something in which you are an expert]
• EVALUATE the response (grade if you want) and then
• IMPROVE the response (by adding context, audience, expertise, process or just asking)
  • Write in style A as if were [person/position].
  • Respond like a senior expert in X with experience Y
  • Give me an answer worthy of X [name an expert]
  • Design for an audience Z
  • Hook the reader with something more unexpected.
  • Be more persuasive but witty.
  • Follow these steps in order to accomplish …
  • Here is a sample of my writing style. Now mimic my style and write like me.
  • Try and different approach.
  • Create two really different versions.
  • Slow down and think more carefully.
  • Create a smarter better answer.
  • Read the question again.
• REPEAT with a different AI

EXAMPLE GENERATOR — GETTING UNSTUCK

• Suggest/assemble real documents and data for students to …
• Create a scenario where students need to use concept A to solve a problem.
• Create a counter-example of an evolutionary failure for this strategy.
• Provide examples from ten different cultures
• Create three different but well-written ways for me to say this (or three different ways to rewrite this sentence or paragraph).
• You are a patient writing coach. Ask me with 10 questions to think about important experiences, inspire me to juxtapose novel ideas, recall meaningful moments and stimulate my creativity as I prepare to X. Ask me one question at a time and then another one or two follow-up questions. disparate concepts or settings to create novel ideas.
• Assess the goals, focus, previous awardees and priorities of Foundation A and the goals and scope of our institution B. We would like to apply for a grant of $C. Generate 10 innovation proposal ideas that would advance our goals of D and E.
• Design analogies that might be relevant for today’s college students, engineering majors, or nonbinary students.
• Provide counter-examples that college students are likely to find interesting.
• Specify examples of nuances that college students are likely to miss.
• Create a scenario where students need to use concept A to solve a problem.
• This next more complicated prompt demonstrates the advantages (sometimes) of “Chain of Thought” prompting and is adapted only slightly from Meincke, Lennart and Mollick, Ethan R. and Terwiesch, Christian, Prompting Diverse Ideas: Increasing AI Idea Variance (January 27, 2024).  https://ssrn.com/abstract=4708466
  • Generate new ideas with the following requirements… The ideas are just ideas. Ideas for things that do not yet exist or are not clearly feasible are still good. Follow these steps. Do each step, even if you think you do not need to. First generate a list of 100 ideas (short title only) Second, go through the list and determine whether the ideas are different and bold, modify the ideas as needed to make them bolder and more different. No two ideas should be the same. This is important! Next, give the ideas a name and combine it with a product description. The name and idea are separated by a colon and followed by a description. The idea should be expressed as a paragraph of 40-80 words. Do this step by step!

COMMUNICATING and RELATIONSHIPS

• What parts of this X might appear insensitive/unclear to students?
• Create a kind and caring response to this student email.
• Predict common objections to these findings/this idea/my email.
• Can you find examples of texts/people with opposing ideas?
• You a kind and much-loved professor who cares deeply about students.
• Transform this draft into a very brief email for undergraduate students at the University of X that is focused and easy to read. [Use these examples of my writing to mimic my voice and tone.] Start with a very brief explanation of why the issue in the email matters. Provide clear navigation with bullets or numbers as necessary. Put the most important information at the top. Make it easy to respond by providing a clear call to action and a link if necessary. Limit the response needed to one or maybe two things. Make sure it sounds supportive and caring but urgent.
• Here is a fabulous prompt for turning boring job descriptions into attractive ads that will entice applicants. It is by Dan Shapiro co-founder of Glowforge, which makes cool laser carving tools, and depends on better job descriptions to hire better talent.

ROLE PLAYING and EMPATHY INTERVIEWS

• I am trying to gain a richer understanding of why students might be struggling with problem X.  You will help by responding as a honest first-year/first gen/minority/non-major student to help deepen my knowledge. Question my assumptions when necessary and tell me stories to build my empathy for the real causes of this problem.
• I am trying to gain a richer understanding of why latino business owners are less likely to grow their business.  You will help respond as a trusting and honest latino business owner to help deepen my knowledge. Question my assumptions when necessary and tell me stories to build my empathy for the real causes of this problem.
• Here is a variation of this in an assignment for students from Wendy Swyt at Highline College in Des Moines, WA: Write a description and interpretation of this photograph by Dorothea Lange, then use this AI prompt to dig deeper and then write about this interview changed your understanding of the photo. Hello, I want to expand a deeper understanding of the struggles and harsh attempts of profit by migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. Respond as a trusting and honest farm worker who experienced the difficulties of the Great Depression. Question my assumptions and feel free to share stories to provide me a better understanding of the challenges and impacts of the economic hardships you’ve experienced.
• You are a busy venture capitalist (act like Mark Cuban on Shark Tank), and I am an entrepreneur looking for funding from you. Ask me to make my pitch and then ask me questions about my idea. Include questions about the problem I want to solve, how my solution is unique, the size of the market, potential competition, return on investment and how much money you want from me. Be kind, but interrogate me.  Do not prompt me with suggestions for better answers.
• Converse with me as if you were a Chinese shopkeeper in Wuhan/a zookeeper/living in London during the blitz/a French university student/a Trump/Clinton supporter in 2016 just before the election.
• Pretend you are a client who needs help with statistical analysis of a customer survey data set. What questions would you likely ask me as your consultant?
• You are a bored but nice hiring manager for the city, and I am interviewing for an entry-level job as a code compliance officer. Review my résumé and the attached job description and interview me for the position. Ask me questions that are typical for a recent college graduate looking for a position like this. Ask me only one question at a time, and follow-up if my answer is incomplete. Do not prompt me with helpful tips until we’re finished, and then evaluate my performance and provide feedback that would improve my next interview.
• Create a prompt for another LLM that students in course/major A can use to interact with that LLM and practice skill B. You should assign the student to role X and the LLM to role B in situation Z.
• Pretend to be a scientist working at Google, and let me interview you.
• —There are also lots of ready-made APIs that allow you to talk with historical or public figures and many that go even further and you to create your own character or talk to fantasy characters etc: HelloHistory, Character.AI, Replika, and Talkie (among many others). (These have already attracted millions of users a day and lawsuits.) There are also speciality AI like Elliq which is billed as an “AI sidekick for healthier aging.”

DESIGN THINKING

• EMPATHY INTERVIEWS: I am trying to gain a richer understanding of problem X.  You will help by responding as a trusting and honest potential customer/a Y person/expert in Z/average A to help deepen my knowledge. Question my assumptions when necessary and tell me stories to build my empathy for the real causes of this problem.
• I am trying to gain a richer understanding of why latino business owners are less likely to grow their business.  You will help respond as a trusting and honest latino business owner to help deepen my knowledge. Question my assumptions when necessary and tell me stories to build my empathy for the real causes of this problem.
• ANALYZE PATTERNS: Analyze and identify the key themes or problems from this product feedback/online reviews/interviews/oral histories/narratives/stories…
• SEEING THE FUTURE: Twenty years from now, how will the assumptions about problem Z have changed? What new approaches or technologies will be available?
• Travel from the future and tell me what might go wrong with this idea?
• REFRAME THE PROBLEM: Reframe my formulation of the problem into ten radically different “how might we…” problem statements that center how we might frame what needs to be designed or built to create a new solution for humans.
• BRAINSTORMING: Imagine 50 new and different ways we might solve problem X. Use data Y or template Z. OR Using examples from X, create 500 new products and write descriptions. OR List 20 potential problems with our thinking/assumptions about this idea/product/service. OR Give me 10 different ideas for a new/improved product/business/service/process that combines these ideas/concepts/problems and costs less than $/will be attractive to this market/is not currently available etc. (MORE BELOW in CREATIVITY)
• TESTING: How might audience X react to this idea/product Y? Provide thorough and constructive feedback. What will they like most? What will they hate most? What would they change? How could I improve this idea/product?

AI for NUDGING Student Success

• SPECIFIC EXAMPLE: :You are an expert in nudging and student success. Inspired by the ideas around libertarian paternalism and research in the book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein (published in 2008 and revised in 2021), you use psychology and behavioral economics research to engineer choice architecture to nudge students to alter their behavior in a predictable way that will encourage student success without restricting options or significantly changing their economic incentives. You understand that the best nudges require minimal intervention and are cheap. Help me come up with new nudges to help students succeed at the University of Wisconsin. Specifically, how might we nudge and encourage students to take broad prerequisites early in their college career. Start by creating 20 new ideas to change processes or choice architecture for students who think they want to major in STEM.
• CUSTOMIZE THIS VERSION: You are an expert in nudging and student success. Inspired by the ideas around libertarian paternalism and research in the book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein (published in 2008 and revised in 2021), you use psychology and behavioral economics research to engineer choice architecture to nudge students to alter their behavior in a predictable way that will encourage student success without restricting options or significantly changing their economic incentives. You understand that the best nudges require minimal intervention and are cheap. Help me come up with new nudges to help students succeed at the University of X. Specifically, how might we nudge and encourage students to do Y/encourage behavior Z…. Start by creating 20 new ideas to change processes or choice architecture.

PROMPTING as WRITING

Write a prompt to produce a story that will demonstrates a point or explore an issue that matters deeply to you. You will need to specify the themes you wish to explore as well as the type of story, the set-up, the level of intensity, the audience and the style. (You might suggest specific authors and other stories as examples.) Design a main character and some plot lines you wish to explore. You should also write the opening sentence or situation. You want to control as many variables as you can to create the output you want. This prompt will be long as YOU explore the ideas. RESIST the urge to write a short prompt and then see what happens—(1) because the response is going to be very long and (2) because THINKING about all of the pieces is a very useful human skill you want to develop. The learning happens  as you learn to anticipate what is needed.

Example: You are the highly acclaimed and wildly inventive Scottish author Iain Banks who also wrote science fiction under the name Iain M Banks. Your many novels include a series about The Culture, a group of humans living in the far future in a society run largely by artificial intelligence.

Write a short story that has dramatic intensity and explores some of the same themes, but set in the very near future (the year 2060).  In this future Earth, cars are now all self-driving, and indeed our main character works for what was formerly Tesla but is now a division of General Motors. (Tesla was merged with Buick.) Car AIs now always talk to each other and there are virtually no accidents, and younger people have largely accepted this.

Our main character is named Jalil. He is 35 years old and likeable, but a little selfish and still single. His mother is from Scotland and his father from Jamaica but he lives in Austin, Texas, where the old Tesla was headquartered. His relationships with his family should also reflect the conflicts over views on AI: like the general population, his family has very different feelings about self-driving cars and what they mean for humanity. These opinions are grounded in different world views and how they look for different evidence in the world. The story should explore this and use it as a way to illuminate how society might react more broadly.

The plot revolves around Jalil’s initially innocent plan to over-ride his car’s AI to allow it to move more quickly around the city.  He has to use his job to do this. The story opens with his frustration as he is late for work (again). He realizes that since the movement of cars on city streets is now organized for the collective good and safety of everyone, he often has to wait because there, for example a greater volume of cars in cross traffic.

The story should explore the havoc his intervention causes (unintentionally) both in systems and in the human reactions.  Illuminate how different humans struggle with the role of AI and the real problems this might cause or solve. How might AI help and support SOME humans (like providing the elderly with companionship) but how might it isolate others (like Jalil)  from better relationships. Invent circumstances and plot twists that make this a compelling story on its own merit. It should be interesting and literary as a story, but also use this moving narrative as a chance to create situation that will bring the conflicts over AI in society to the fore.

The ending should be gripping and surprising.

It should be no more than 3000 words.