I have a problem with prompt engineering
In these heady days of AI innovation happening at light speed, a few things seem to have stuck as “basics” and “must-haves”. One of those is prompt engineering. Nothing makes me flip to the next video faster than someone on Tiktok screaming “YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS INSANE CHATGPT PROMPT”.
It’s exhausting to hear people say “GIVE CHATGPT A JOB! TELL IT TO ACT LIKE A STRATEGIST!” or seeing posts promising to sell 1000 prompts that will create the perfect campaign. This all feeds into (again) the fallacy of the magic create button: If you figure out exactly the right words to ask, you’ll get ready-to-go straight-off-the-screen perfection.
Which is, of course, wrong.
When people try to sell you magic – of any kind – it’s a scam.
People claiming that any specific prompt will solve your problem is just more magic word bullshit that encourages mediocre results. At best, it’s a shortcut around trying, failing, trying again and learning what works best for you and your individual use-case. It replaces exploration and in the end it will likely leave you disappointed, without giving you a better understanding of what you are doing when you are working with the tools.
Generative Visual AI is another story
A quick aside before I go further down the road to Rantville. When it comes to generative visual AI, yes, prompt structure is more important to get results that land somewhere near your expectations. The type of lighting, framing, lens, subject even aspect and prominence of objects in your output all come down to having a focused briefing that can be a lot more technical that with generative text AI. BUT that being said, I still find a lot of the “use this to get that” prompts are bloated and sometimes less is more. I feel it often comes down to luck and the “mood” your robot friend is in at the moment. There are a lot of good resources for prompts in Midjourney and starting off by copying some of these prompts and then adjusting them to see what happens can be a great way to feel your way around. Again, please don’t pay for prompts.
I’m going to give you everything you need right now to get more relevant work out of ChatGPT4 – for free, of course.
Ready?
Context. Give it the briefing. Onboard it like you would a member of your team. Pretend the field you’re typing into is Teams, or Slack and there is a person on the other side reading it.
Tell it what you are trying to do. Who you are trying to reach. What your goals are. What your brand voice is. Do you have a spokesperson? How do they talk? Are there certain words you always use? Never use? Do you have a brand story or brand purpose you can give it? What is the actual outcome you are expecting? A digital experience? A launch campaign that plays out on social? An event? A one-off brand magazine that is scratch and sniff and illustrated using only old ads found in a basement in Paris? Tell it. In normal words.
Giving ChatGPT a job doesn’t do anything except make my eyes roll.
It has a job. But the more information you give it, the better it can do that job – which is fulfilling the tasks that you give it.
And again, do not expect perfection. It may generate something that might be 50% there, or even more. It might inspire you to think in a direction you hadn’t considered. It might even give you some longer form copy that works. But chances are 99.999999% you won’t be able to just copy and paste and go make a sandwich. (And that’s without the basics like checking for accuracy, bias and brand fit.)
More is more
Copy-focused writing aids like Jasper have some of this built in, and gives you a framework for making sure that you have tone of voice and audience as part of the equation.
Copywriter friends I’ve spoken with are split on having a more guided approach like that vs a more blank canvas such as with ChatGPT, although they all agree that both ways still need work after you get your output. (As always, I would love to hear how you get best results.)
Embrace the process
So basically, remember that using AI tools like ChatGPT4 requires not only an understanding of where and how they can help you but also a willingness to get your hands dirty. To fail. To iterate, and adapt.
As a creative professional, you understand briefs. You know that a good one helps you create better work. Same thing with how you brief an assignment to your tool. Providing context and treating the AI like a team member can help you get better results, but it's important to set realistic expectations and be prepared to revise and refine the output.
Don’t fear the learning process. Steer clear of "magic prompts," and hacks. Instead focus on clear communication and good briefings for your robot friends. This will not only help you get better work, but help you build a process for dealing with AI tools in the future. Always remember that you are a better creative than any AI tool and that your actual intelligence is what makes all the difference and sets your work apart.