So, you’re using artificial intelligence (AI) – but are you using it to its full potential? Have you mastered the art of AI prompting? Make your prompt too short, and you get a response that misses the mark: for example, sloppy instructions that end up going in circles. Make your prompt too long, and the focus is obscured, so that the response is muddled. In both cases, the results can be disappointing.
Whether you’re using Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral, the important thing is to avoid behaving like a steely-eyed commander-in-chief, sword at the ready, barking order after order at the AI tool and expecting it to execute those commands without understanding them.
That approach won’t get you anywhere.
Why? Because you’re not commanding troops on a battlefield. Working with AI is a collaborative endeavour. You need to take a more considerate approach and engage in an open conversation with AI in the spirit of honest and transparent dialogue.
If you’re disappointed in the response you get from your AI tool, tell it so. If you’d like it to simplify or expand on what it says, say so. If you aspire to conquer the world within the next year, give it a heads-up! In fact, everything that seems logical and relevant to you should be part of your prompt.
Three categories of prompts
Since 2023, I’ve offered over a hundred AI training sessions (ChatGPT or Copilot). In the course of discussions with the people who attend my trainings, I’ve tried to identify patterns in their day to day use of AI tools.
After some analysis, I concluded that we make three types of prompts. Think of them as three objectives you can repeat like a mantra:
- Information
- Reflection
- Writing
Information
Whether we use it for fact-finding, keeping up with current events or mining for content, AI is a useful way to search for information. Information prompts resemble queries in a classic Google search, but instead of generating a list of results, AI generates answers.
Do you doubt the validity of the answers you get? Great! Don your investigative journalist hat and head off in search of sources. For example, start your prompt like this: “Displaying as many sources from the Web as possible, could you…”
On the screen, you’ll be able to click on the links to texts and articles online. All you have to do is skim through them to check that the answers are correct. And if you click on the “Deep Research” function, you can analyze the sources in detail (for example, generate a solid press review with some clickable links).
Reflection
No need to check sources with these types of prompts. In this case, you’re using AI as a creative tool or a special adviser. (Some might say “trainee,” but let’s avoid this slightly cynical way of talking.)
When it comes to reflection, whether you want to explore ideas, refine a viewpoint, draw up a plan or anticipate objections, AI acts as a strategic adviser.
Rather than stringing together a series of orders (“Do this; do that”), try admitting you don’t know where to start. Even when it’s not true. The important thing is to help AI come up with new ideas.
Here’s an example of a reflection prompt, designed to start a conversation:
We want to promote hockey to 7- to 9-year-olds in Canada’s provinces and territories. Why? The sport is declining in popularity. We don’t know where to start. We have a budget of $X and resources A, B and C; and we want to put them all to work within Y months. To help me achieve this goal, I’d like you to ask me 20 questions, one after the other, so you can then draw up a list of 50 recommendations, aimed at helping me achieve this goal.
In this case, instead of formulating a simple answer, AI will ask you a series of 20 questions. Each question will get you thinking – and, more importantly, get it thinking! Each answer will lead to the next question. This cycle will help the tool produce much more relevant and strategic proposals.
The AI tool will make links between various fields to bring together pieces of knowledge, categorize and organize them, and ultimately generate ideas. All good ones? Not necessarily, but just as in a real brainstorming session, keep what you like and let the rest go. These answers will give you a better overview when you start writing.
Writing
AI is a valuable writing tool for anyone who’s already a language expert with a passion for words.
Remember this crucial element: the art of the prompt requires the ability to visualize the desired results. The more experience you have, the better you’ll be able to anticipate the final version of your text, which will help you write more effective prompts up front.
AI can be used to rephrase, summarize, structure, paraphrase, create titles and headings, translate, adjust tone, add emojis, edit, rewrite, request different versions of the same sentence, correct wording, transform a draft into an impeccable composition – anything is possible.
In Copilot and ChatGPT, I created a wizard for a single task: proofreading. Is it 100% perfect? No. But combined with human expertise and tools like Antidote, this approach enhances the accuracy and consistency of texts. That’s why I rarely use AI to “rephrase.” Instead, I prefer asking it to tell me where I need to intervene. This strategy allows me to keep control over my original content.
You’re not a trained dog
Avoid tips that are too good to be true and collections of ready-made prompts. If your LinkedIn feed is flooded with prompt gurus and lists of 50 tools that will change your life, don’t be taken in.
Like your content, your prompts should be a natural extension of your thoughts. Don’t look for the perfect cut-and-paste, the word-for-word equivalent, the bag of tricks. Trust yourself and keep going. Your prompts will get better with practice until one day they become second nature.
I use AI every day and teach people how to use it effectively almost every week. But I’ve never delivered a text written by AI. And that includes this one, which is entirely the product of my own brain cells. However, I do love the almost handcrafted work that AI makes possible, both before and after I write.
We need to find the right balance when writing prompts, without undermining or atrophying our ability to create meaningful, thought-provoking texts. Texts written by humans, for humans.
