How to Actually Prompt AI
The practical guide to writing AI prompts that work. The Intern Test, 4-part framework, and 5 prompts you can steal right now.
How to Actually Prompt AI
Most people type a vague question into ChatGPT, get a vague answer, and conclude AI is useless. The problem is almost never the AI. The problem is the instruction.
Prompting is not a technical skill. It is the skill of being specific about what you want. If you can write a clear email to a colleague, you can prompt AI effectively.
The Golden Rule
The Intern Test: If a smart but brand-new intern couldn't do the task from your instructions alone, the AI won't either. Be that specific.
The 4 Parts of a Good Prompt
Every effective prompt has four ingredients. You don't always need all four, but the more you include, the better the output.
- Role: Tell the AI who it is. "You are a senior project manager" gives better output than just asking a question into the void.
- Context: Give it the background. What's the situation? Who is the audience? What have you already tried?
- Task: Be specific about the output. "Write a summary" is vague. "Write a 3-sentence summary for my VP who has 30 seconds to read it" is useful.
- Format: Tell it how to structure the answer. Bullet points? Table? Email draft? One paragraph? If you don't specify, you get whatever the AI feels like.
Example: Bad vs. Good
Weak Prompt
"Summarize this article about AI agents."
Strong Prompt
"You are a technology advisor for non-technical executives. Summarize this article in 3 bullet points: what it is, why it matters for our industry, and whether we should act now or wait. Our industry is insurance."
5 Prompts You Can Steal Right Now
The Jargon Stripper:
The Devil's Advocate:
The Email Fixer:
The Meeting Prep:
The ELI5 (Explain Like I'm 5):
Common Mistakes
- Being too polite. "Could you maybe possibly help me with..." Just state what you need.
- Accepting the first output. The first answer is a rough draft. Say "Make this shorter" or "That's too generic, give me specifics for [industry]."
- Not giving examples. If you want a specific style or format, paste an example of what good looks like.
- Pasting nothing. AI works best when you give it material to work with. Paste the email, the document, the data. Don't make it guess.
The bottom line: AI is only as useful as your instructions. Spend 30 extra seconds on your prompt and the output improves dramatically.
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