Are you frustrated with mediocre responses from AI chatbots?

It might be because of how you are writing your prompts.

For this article, Ill be usingChatGPTto demonstrate the prompt responses.

‘Figment’ in a Galaxy Z Fold 6 next to an 8BitDo Pro 2 controller.

For example, instead of asking, “How does the human brain work?”

Another advantage of role prompting is that it gives ChatGPT a specific character with unique mannerisms.

This can make the responses more entertaining.

Tuya Wi-Fi IR Blaster on a wooden desk.

So, by default, most of our prompts are zero-shot prompts.

As a result, the AI just generates an answer based on its default training.

I want it to be separated, so I can copy-paste the ideas more easily into a spreadsheet.

An AI robot using a computer with a prompt field on the screen.

Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek

Its easy to see why ChatGPT made this mistake, but lets fix that with a multi-shot prompt.

Instead of just providing an answer, you’re prompting the AI to walk through its reasoning step-by-step.

This technique is particularly useful for complex problems or when you want to understand the AI’s decision-making process.

ChatGPT with no shot prompting

A store sells notebooks for $2.50 each.

If you buy 3 or more, you get a 10% discount on the total price.

How much would you pay for 5 notebooks?

ChatGPT with one shot prompting

4Negative Prompting

Negative prompting is about telling the AI what you don’t want.

This can be surprisingly effective in steering the AI away from common mistakes or unwanted content.

Generally, youd first enter a prompt and see the response.

6. ChatGPT with multi shot prompting

If you dont like this, you’ve got the option to modify it using negative prompting.

This can lead to more refined, higher-quality outputs.

So first, tell the AI to do something.

ChatGPT Chain of Thought Prompting to Solve a Maths Problem

Wait for it to generate a response.

Remember, the key here is to experiment.

Try different approaches, combine techniques, and see what works best for your specific needs.

Asking Productivity Tips from ChatGPT

Using Negative Prompting with ChatGPT

Self-Criticism Prompting with ChatGPT