Prompting: how to communicate with a conversational AI and get improved responses
Visit artificial intelligence chatbots as ChatGPT, powered by AI and using algorithms from natural language processing (NLP), have become an integral part of our daily lives. Whether through mobile applicationsand websitesand customer services or even assistants integrated telephone callsthese technologies are capable of simulate a conversation with a natural wayalmost like a human conversation.
However, if these tools can provide answers impressive, the quality of these responses depends heavily on the way the users formulate their request. This is where the prompting the art of writing clear, precise and strategic instructions to achieve a generated text relevant.
This article explains :
- What it is prompting
- Why it is essential
- How to create a good prompt
- A tip simple: use AI to improve your own queries
1. What is prompting in AI systems?
Visit prompting is the way of communicating or chatting with a conversational AI. It refers to the set of techniques used to formulate an instruction to a tool. powered by AIbe it textual or multimodal (image, audio, video). This instruction is analyzed by algorithms - often neural networks - who have been trained on large amounts of data.
These AI tools - as GPT or other models generative - use algorithms from natural language processing to understand your needs and produce appropriate content. They can :
- Answering questions
- Discussing topics complexes
- Simulate a conversation
- Generate text clear and structured
- Optimize professional tasks or repetitive
In short: a prompt is the order you send to the AI. The more precise it is, the more targeted your response will be.
2. Why is prompting important for communicating with AIs?
Even if the chatbots or AI-powered tools are able to process a broad spectrum of requests, they don't guess your expectations. Here's why prompting is strategic:
A. Providing more precise answers
A well-constructed prompt enables the AI system to generate specific answers rather than a generic output.
B. Optimizing time
In an exchange in real timea precise prompt avoids rephrasing and speeds up the data transmission relevant.
C. Personalize the experience
You can tailor the answer to your preference : formal or casual tone, short or detailed format, technical or simple vocabulary.
D. Improving accessibility
For people with special needs (simplified reading), voice recognition), a good prompt helps to produce better adapted content.
E. Revolutionizing the customer experience
For developers or large companiestraining teams in prompting allows them to create AI tools capable of improving customer serviceto manage a FAQor treat their data on a large scale.
3. How to create a good prompt for a conversational AI tool; like ChatGPT
Creating an effective prompt is like briefing an employee: the clearer you are, the better the result.
A. Defining the role of AI
Tell the tool which role to adopt.
Example:
"Act as a digital marketing expert and propose a strategy to improve the audience of a fashion e-commerce site."
B. Providing context
Mention the objective, target audience and constraints.
Example:
"Explains how neural networks work to a beginner student, in 300 words, with a concrete example."
C. Specify the expected format
Do you want a text, a table, a bulleted list? Please indicate.
D. Delineate length
This prevents the AI from producing content that is too long or too short.
E. Add examples
Providing an example enables the system AI-based adopt the expected tone and structure.
4. Examples of optimized prompts
- For sales data analysis : “Act like an expert business analyst in data visualization.
Analyze the Excel table provided containing sales data by region for the period [indicate period].
Clearly identifies and summarizes the main trends, variations and anomalies observed.
Classify observations by region, highlighting :- fast-growing regions
- those in decline
- significant deviations from the mean
- A summary of no more than 5 points
- A clear summary table
- A short strategic conclusion with 1-2 recommendations for action.
Avoid technical jargon and justify each conclusion with data from the table.“ - For customer service : “Act as an experienced and empathetic customer service advisor.
Write a personalized message to a customer expressing disappointment at a late delivery.
In your reply:- Acknowledge and understand his feelings.
- Offer a sincere and clear apology.
- Briefly explain the reason for the delay, without going into too much technical detail.
- Offer a concrete commercial gesture (discount, partial refund, voucher, etc.) to reward customer loyalty.
- End with a positive formula that builds confidence and encourages the business relationship to continue.
Here is the customer's message: [PASTE HERE THE CUSTOMER'S MESSAGE].“ - For leisure activities : “Tells a short story in clear, simple language, suitable for a 6-year-old child.
The hero is a curious cat who travels into space.
The story must :- Be easy to understand, with short sentences.
- Include fun, colorful descriptions.
- Contain 3 to 4 small twists adapted to the child's age.
- End with a positive moral or encouraging message.
- For a developer : “Act like an experienced Python developer.
Here's a Python script:
[PASTE CODE HERE].
Improves this script so that it handles errors more robustly and predictably.
Your changes must :- Add exception handling adapted to each critical part of the code.Prevent unexpected crashes.Provide clear, useful error messages to the user.Preserve the program's original logic.
- The initial problem.The solution applied.The expected impact on code reliability.
5. Tip: use AI to improve your prompts
Visit AI tools can also help you improve your own queries.
Ask him:
"Rewrite this prompt to make it clearer and more precise, adding the necessary context."
This makes it possible to :
- Get an optimized prompt
- Improve your ability to formulate requests
- Long-term efficiency gains
6. Common mistakes to avoid
- ❌ Being too vague → fuzzy answers.
- ❌ Mix several unrelated requests → confusion.
- ❌ Do not check the generated text → risk of factual errors.
- ❌ Ignore thehistory of the conversation → the AI loses the thread.
7. The future of prompting and AI communication
The systems using algorithms advanced learning will continue to evolve.
We are seeing the emergence of tools capable of :
- Understanding own language of each user
- Chat continuously while maintaining thehistory
- Integrating voice recognition for interact with humans more naturally
- Manage repetitive tasks in large companies
- Treat large quantities of data into real time
Over time, these developments could revolutionize the customer servicecontent creation, and even the management of mobile applications or websites.
In a nutshell
Visit prompting is a key skill for harnessing the full power of AI-powered tools. Whether you are an individual optimize its leisurea professional managing repetitive tasksor a developer creating AI tools for a customer servicelearning how to formulate good instructions will help you achieve specific answersmore precise and more useful.