Work Smarter: Free Resources to Improve Generative AI Prompt Engineering

Since OpenAI ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, generative AI (GenAI) has rapidly progressed beyond comical autocomplete suggestions in our messaging apps to become an integral part in many of our lives. A July 2024 study from Upwork discovered that 77% of employees report that the quick adoption of AI has increased their workload instead of boosting their productivity.

The market has seen an explosion in the number of GenAI and related tools driven by the popularity and ease of use of the underlying technology. Startups have sprung up around both the older but now newly palatable machine learning as well as its more popular GenAI descendants, creating an entire industry. Furthermore, in addition to the generalized tools provided by major players such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Meta, there are industry specific tools for areas such as Marketing, HR, and Project Management.

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Some tools target specific tasks such as Search, Vacation Planning, Presentation Creation, or Image Generation. However, many companies adopt the technology expecting the outsized productivity gains advertised by Big Tech without adjusting their underlying business process or systems, leading to frustration for workers and customers alike, as highlighted in the previously referenced Upwork study.

There are many aspects to consider when contemplating and adding new technology into your personal and professional workflow. When working with Generative AI tools, one key to getting your desired results is providing the right prompts.

For the first year or so after the roll out of ChatGPT and its brethren, prompt engineering was one of the hottest new careers on the job market. Now that the fanfare has died down, prompt engineering has gone the way of the Google Search engineer. In fact, as pointed out in a March 2024 Analytics India Magazine (AIM) article, “the best prompt engineering is done by the AI model itself.”

Prompt Engineering Explained

But what exactly is prompt engineering? The Amazon Web Services (AWS) “What Is Prompt Engineering” page explains that "prompt engineering is the process where you guide generative AI solutions to generate desired results."

In order to realize the productivity gains, many GenAI users want to spend less time in the “trial and error” phase and improve their prompting skills.

Key Principles

Here are seven basic principles to keep in mind when prompting your favorite GenAI tool:

1. Specify your audience

2. Provide clear instructions

3. Use examples

4. Include constraints

5. Iterate and Refine

6. Daisy Chain your prompts

7. Avoid Jargon

Check out these articles to learn more hints and tricks to help you create prompts that deliver results:

• Atlassian Blog on Best Practices for Generating AI Prompts

• V7 Labs Guide to AI Prompt Engineering

• Google’s Machine Learning Resources on Prompt Engineering

• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's (RMIT) Generative AI Writing Prompts

• Intellek Blog on Prompt Engineering in Instructional Design

  
  

Another great tip is to learn from others.

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Learn from Others

Just as with learning any other new skill, you can learn from thought leaders and peers in your industry. Anthropic provides a prompt library for working with Claude.

GitHub also offers several repositories with collections of prompts that others have found useful. Here are a couple of examples:

• Product Management Prompt for Generative AI

• Marketing Automations Notebooks With GPT

Adopt the methods that work and discard what doesn’t.

"Prompt Engineering is the process where you guide generative AI solutions to generate desired results."

Training Resources

If you already have a subscription to Coursera, Pluralsight, or LinkedIn Learning, you can search their course catalog for online training.

Here are a couple more options:

• PromptEngineering.org

• DeepLearning.AI

  
  

If you are more interested in live training, many smaller AI companies and community organizations provide free prompt engineering training.

Here are some examples of free, live prompt engineering classes that have been or may be offered:

• Tech Talk: Prompt Engineering with Chris Thompson

• PromptHub: Prompt Engineering 101

• Microsoft: Prompt Engineering for Nonprofits

• Deep Dive into Azure AI Studio and Advanced Prompt Engineering (AI102)

• AWS Discovery Day - Introduction to Prompt Engineering

Ready for More?

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