Powerful AI tools are now widely available, allowing anyone to get human-like responses on virtually any topic – and there are techniques for taking these AI assistants to the next level.

Artificial intelligence chatbots that can engage in human-like dialogue have rapidly gone mainstream. Tools like ChatGPT from Anthropic and the upcoming Google Gemini are now widely available to the public, giving ordinary people access to AI capabilities restricted to researchers and significant tech companies just a few years ago.

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• AI chatbots like ChatGPT are now widely available, giving the public access to powerful AI capabilities.
• Using specialized “prompt engineering” techniques can take the usefulness and creativity of chatbot responses to the next level.
• Mastering prompt engineering skills like mimicking writing styles, tailoring outputs, and providing starting points will become increasingly valuable as AI tools advance.

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AI Chatbots Like ChatGPT Offer New Mind-Blowing Capabilities 

What should you know about the new development?

These natural language AI models can accomplish an incredible range of tasks – from creative writing, like composing poems and stories, to coding and automating software workflows, to analyzing complex topics and offering advice. Users can simply type queries in conversational language and receive thoughtful, coherent responses tailored to their input.

While the out-of-the-box performance of these chatbots is already awe-inspiring, experts have discovered that using specialized prompting techniques can take the usefulness and creativity of the responses to an even higher level.

“The possibilities are almost limitless once you learn how to prompt these AI models properly,” says Sarah Richards, Director of Product at AI startup Anthropic. “You can get the chatbots to take on different personas, argue different sides of debates, tailor outputs for specific audiences, and so much more – all by adding some strategic wording to your prompts.”

For example, by specifying you want information presented in a tabular format, these chatbots can generate creative ideas and data sets organized neatly into rows and columns. You can also get them to process lists of items in various ways, like creating anagrams or sorting the lists alphabetically.

More advanced prompt engineering tricks include:

• Asking the AI to mimic the voice and writing style of your favorite author, like the clever wit of Oscar Wilde or poetic descriptions of John Steinbeck
• Setting specific word limits or paragraph lengths and having the chatbot condense or expand its outputs accordingly
• Tailoring the language for different audiences, like explaining a complex topic in simplified terms to children
• Generating ASCII art pictures made out of text characters and symbols
• Automating interactive experiences like choose-your-own-adventure games where you make choices and get branching narratives
• Providing the AI with some initial sentences or data points as a starting point and then having it build out more complete stories, analyses, or other compositions

According to Nikhil Srinivasan, co-founder of AI startup Anthro.AI, “Prompt engineering takes full advantage of these models’ amazing natural language abilities. The more examples, context, and specific instructions you can provide in your prompt, the more the chatbot can draw upon its deep knowledge to generate uniquely insightful and creative responses tailored precisely to your needs.”

While courses and communities are already emerging to teach prompt engineering skills, simple tricks, and targeted phrasing can immediately allow anyone to get more out of AI chatbots. As these models advance rapidly, mastering the prompting techniques will become an increasingly sought-after skill for business, creative, and analytical use cases.