OpenAI launches GPT4 - Basic Prompt Elements - C.E.O.
OpenAI launched GPT4 last week, and made it available to all ChatGPT Plus users. OpenAI describes GPT4 As "more reliable, creative, and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5."
This also means, that proper prompting (what we call as PromptCraft ) is more important than ever. Prompting as a skill will continue to be a killer advantage for those who know it better.
Most (I'd guess 8 out 10) people don't go beyond a single line prompt like "Write a Sci-fi story". What they get is a word noodle, that can not be used for any practical purpose. After this they spend hours trying to fix the output, or just give up in frustration.
A few people do it slightly better. They provide more specific information, e.g. "Write sci-fi story about a time traveling detective".
How do you do better than this?
Basic Prompting - C.E.O.
Hereโs a quick way that can put your prompt in top 10% by effectiveness. We call this the C.E.O. prompt.
At the minimum useful level, a prompt should have three basic parts:
- A ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ - A specific task or instruction you want the model to perform
- An ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ - External information or additional context that can steer the model to better responses.
- And an ๐ข๐๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ - The type, format or tone of the output.
For beginners in prompting, that is all that is needed. But why does this work?
Lets look through some examples, try these on ChatGPT and see the difference:
Examples
1 Writing Assistant Example
- C - Command : "Write a short story about a time-traveling detective who solves historical mysteries."
- E - Environment : "The story should be set in the Victorian era, incorporating historically accurate details about the culture, technology, and societal norms of that time. The detective uses a special pocket watch for time travel, which can only be used once a day."
- O - Outcome : "The story should be approximately 500 words, written in a suspenseful and engaging style, and include dialogues. It should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with a twist at the end revealing an unexpected connection between the detective and the historical event."
2 Data Analysis Example
- C - Command : "Analyze the given dataset and provide insightsโ
- E - Environment : "The dataset contains monthly sales figures for a global company over the past 5 years, broken down by product category and region."
- O - Outcome : "A bulleted list of 5 key trends or patterns, each supported by specific data points."
3 Programming Example
- C - Command : "Debug the following Python code snippetโ
- E - Environment : Uploaded Image of the python Code.
- O - Outcome : "Explain any bugs found, provide a corrected version of the code, and include comments explaining the fixesโ
and Upload an image of your code e.g. I uploaded fibonacci function in Python
With the C.E.O. Prompting Approach , your prompt responses will be clearer, and more precise. Try this and let me know how did it go.
While this gets the job done, I am working on a much more detailed and far more effective prompting technique. Stay tuned.
