A ChatGPT3 101: If Google is R2D2 (Input = Output), then ChatGPT3 is like C3PO because we can “dialogue” with it. ChatGPT3 is like C3PO because it’s a lot smarter and talks back, but also is easily confused. 7 easy to follow prompt hacks to make it really work!
1) First, specify a role for the machine: “Act as” – for example, act as a tour guide. Or act as a teacher. This gives ChatGPT a particular way to approach the response that is more familiar and easy to understand to you and me.
2) Then, define the purpose of the conversation. Explain what you are trying to achieve with your prompt and this will give ChatGPT more context, and therefore make it more relevant.
3) Last, give the specific task with focus and simplicity. If you are looking to create a meal plan to hit a certain calorie count or lifestyle, and then a shopping list form the meal plan, you could split that into two separate prompts.
A few other quick tips I’ve noticed work well to help us with our human machine communication best practices:
4) Provide clear instructions as if you were giving an assignment in class. For teachers or coders this is natural. For others, remember vague prompts = generic junk results: garbage in = garbage out.
5) You can calibrate style and tone: Give style or tone comps “in the style of” if you want it to reply back in a particular tone or “at the level of” such as a middle schooler, this can help to calibrate the response.
6) Be comprehensive, but focused. The prompt can be multiple sentences – doesn’t have to just be a one-liner. But remember, if it’s a new task, it’s a better idea to ask a follow up questions to expand or clarify then to try to cram it into one prompt.
7) Speak to the tool like a person: You can address the machine as “you” and it will understand that you are speaking to it. You can also say things like “I will say this” and “you will do that” – and it can follow along with your line of thinking.
ChatGPT is valuable because it can analyze natural language. But it still very much a machine, so we have to communicate with it in a way the machine will understand. It’s “comprehension abilities” are deceptively simple but to maximize it there are communication rules.
ChatGPT is an excellent and powerful, however flawed, robot helper. Often confused by our idioms and idiosyncrasies – the onus is on us to learn how to communicate with it. Just remember C3PO’s fixation on manners, and you’ll have the superpowers you need to 10x your work!
