What Is Prompt Engineering.

Prompt engineering is a rapidly growing field in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). In simple terms, prompt engineering involves designing and creating prompts for language models, which are powerful tools that can generate natural language text.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) is a common internet acronym used to provide a concise summary or brief explanation of a longer piece of text. Where possible / feasible we provide a TL;DR throughout.

TL;DR

Prompt engineering refers to the process of strategically crafting and modifying prompts to improve the performance and behavior of Large Language Models (LLMs). It involves techniques such as specifying the format of the desired answer, adding instructions or hints, or using system messages to guide the model’s behavior. Prompt engineering can help address challenges such as bias mitigation, controlling output style, or increasing response relevance. By carefully designing prompts, researchers and practitioners aim to shape the behavior of LLMs to align with specific requirements and achieve more desirable and reliable outputs.


Language models such as GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) are capable of generating human-like text based on a given prompt or input. For example, you could give a language model a prompt like “write a short story about a whale who goes on an adventure,” and it would generate a unique and coherent story based on that prompt. Each of our Courses has a detailed Prompt Example however to begin here is a 50 word story as an example.

The Adventures of Willow

Prompt: please write a 50 word story about a whale who goes on an adventure with friends

ChatGPT: In the vast blue, Willow, the jubilant whale, embarked on a daring journey with her vibrant friends. They explored sunken pirate treasures, swam through rainbow coral forests, and raced alongside playful dolphins. Their adventure, filled with laughter and discovery, echoed the harmonious symphony of friendship deep within the ocean’s heart.

Prompt engineering involves creating the prompts that guide the language model’s output. The prompts can take many different forms, from simple questions or prompts that elicit a short response, to more complex prompts that guide the language model to generate longer, more detailed pieces of text.

The goal of prompt engineering is to create prompts that produce high-quality, relevant, and engaging text that meets a specific goal or objective. This might include prompts that generate:

  • product descriptions,
  • marketing copy,
  • chatbot responses,
  • blog posts
  • or entire news articles.

The process of prompt engineering typically involves several steps. First, the prompt engineering specialist must identify the objective of the prompt, as well as the audience or users who will be interacting with the output. They must then design a prompt that is tailored to meet those objectives and user needs.

Prompt engineering has enormous potential to transform the way we interact with and use AI and ML technologies. By creating high-quality prompts that guide the language model’s output, prompt engineers can help unlock new applications and use cases for these powerful tools, from automated content creation to personalized chatbots and beyond.

In conclusion, prompt engineering is an exciting and rapidly evolving field that is poised to play a key role in the future of AI and ML. By designing and refining prompts for language models, prompt engineers can help unlock the full potential of these powerful tools, enabling new applications and use cases that were previously unimaginable.