AI is your digital sidekick but it doesn't think like a human. It follows patterns and instructions based on how you communicate with it. The clearer and more structured your prompt, the better the response. Remember: garbage in, garbage out.
An effective AI prompt is specific, structured, and purpose driven. Here is a simple framework to improve your prompts.
Ensures AI understands exactly what is needed.
Example prompt:
Describe how AI is transforming digital art and media production, including its benefits and ethical challenges for artists and content creators.
Clearly stating your purpose helps AI stay focused and generate responses that are relevant, accurate, and aligned with your intent.
Provides the background AI needs to shape its response effectively.
Example prompt:
You are a community health worker creating a flyer to explain the importance of flu vaccinations to the general public.
Including contexts, such as the scenario, role, or target audience, helps AI focus its response and deliver content that's appropriate.
Guides AI in providing organised and complete responses.
Example prompt:
Write a 150-word summary explaining how photosynthesis supports the global food chain, using simple language suitable for high school students.
Specifying the desired structure, such as word count, format, or level of detail, helps the AI generate responses that are well-organised, appropriately scoped, and easier to use.
Sets expectations for style and presentation.
Example prompt:
Summarise the ethical concerns of AI in medical diagnostics and patient care in 100 words, using a conversational tone and including one example.
By setting boundaries around tone, format, or structure, you help the AI stay on track, producing concise, relevant, and styled content appropriate for your audience or context.
Use a combination of the following elements to design a prompt that you can use with generative AI tools.
|
Role |
Task |
Format |
Restrict |
|---|---|---|---|
| "you are a..." | "create a(n)..." | "show as..." | "use..." |
|
|
|
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Example:
You are a researcher in education. Create a summary of key points from the Closing the Gap strategy for research ideas relating to education in Australia. Show as bullet points and use short sentences.