Lesson 06

Prompting

You’re not giving it orders. You’re changing the odds.

Everything you type is a prompt, and it joins the text the model is continuing. Change your words and you change which continuations are likely. Here is one ordinary job, pulling the dates out of a class announcement, getting three sentences better.

Change the wording and the whole thing changes colour. You are not giving an order; you are nudging the odds.

Do thisStart with all three boxes unticked and read the answer. Then tick them one at a time and watch the answer sharpen. Nothing about the model changes.

1Add ingredients to your request

Show it one example 1“Here’s the shape I want.” One sample of what good looks like. Say exactly what you want back 2“Just the list, in date order. No greeting, no explanation.” Say what to leave out 3“Work out the vague dates. Drop anything that was replaced.”

2What you actually send

3What it writes back