By now you've probably got a basic understanding of using ChatGPT and prompt engineering. It's okay if you don't, I've got you covered with this introduction where we knock out Prompt Engineering 101.

⚙️ What Is a Prompt?

A prompt is a request or instructions written in plain English (or one of 36 languages for that matter) to a Large Language Model to perform some type of action.

You can ask ChatGPT to perform a task and it will attempt to complete it and often does so pretty well without much help.

This is where prompt engineering comes into play.

Prompt engineering is the new framework with which the future is going to be built!

With a little help from the skillful use of the English language in combination with proven prompt engineering techniques, you can achieve much better results.

🤖 What Can ChatGPT Do?

There are near-infinite use cases but the more common ones that are useful are...

• Simple questions and answers

• Writing an article, essay, caption, list, report, etc.

• Conversation

• Analysis or comparison

• Translation

• Research assistance

• Completing or writing code

• Strategy planning or brainstorming

You'll learn more later in the course about additional capabilities that use the OpenAI API to communicate with ChatGPT models. These integrations allow you to do even more incredible things like create chatbots, AI tools, 3rd-party applications and automation.

You don't even need to know how to code, OpenAI has made it extremely accessible.

📝 How to Format a Basic Prompt

You've probably seen simple prompts like this...

"Act as an SEO expert and write an 800 word article about digital marketing for local businesses."

These prompts typically follow a basic structure like the following example.

❌ Basic Prompt Example:

You are a [role], your task is to [action], please use a [chosen tone] and use a specific [format].

This prompt will generate a passable yet robotic, dated and out-of-touch article.

✅ Better Prompt Example:

In this course, I'll teach you how to turn basic prompts into something better like this.

You are an expert [role] trained in [skills]. Your task is to [action], please use a [chosen tone] and use a specific [format]. Use markdown.

The article should include: [data or sub-topics]

Include these keywords in the section headings: [keywords]

Here are some examples of my writing for reference: [examples]

Now you should be able to see why prompt engineering can be valuable as it most definitely provides a better result.

We'll get into the specifics of the advanced prompts later in the course and many more prompt engineering techniques you can take advantage of.

🚀 Going Beyond Basic Prompt Engineering

In The Ultimate AI Course, you'll learn how to take the idea of that simple prompt and improve it drastically to create something you can get excited about and work with easily.

You'll gain the skills to apply this prompt engineering knowledge to all kinds of advanced prompts to generate amazing content.

In just 2 more lessons you'll learn the IMPACT Method© which outlines a straightforward approach to consistently creating high-level prompts of any kind.

🎓 Onward to AI Greatness!

Now that you've been introduced to Prompt Engineering it's time to level up to 102!

If you're viewing this as a sample lesson, please register for the course to continue!

I'm thrilled to be here to help you on your learning journey. Let's go! 👉