Learning how to get the most out of your interactions with ChatGPT is more difficult than it seems. While I see people talking about how impressive the AI model is, I don't see as many focusing on teaching others how to write better prompts.
I believe that at this stage in the world of artificial intelligence that is available to the general public, you will need to take a personal journey in exploring the capabilities and limitations of a large language model like ChatGPT.
In my opinion, learning how to interact with ChatGPT is an intuitive process. As you write more prompts and try giving the model different types of instructions, you will see what works and what doesn't.
Today, I want to give you some shortcuts that will help you find creative ways to use ChatGPT (or GPT-4) for better results. Here are some of my favorite ChatGPT tips and tricks.
Hear Both Sides of a Debate
If you're looking to research a topic and hear both sides of a debate, ChatGPT is an excellent tool to use. With its powerful language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can help you gather information, analyze different perspectives, and form a well-rounded understanding of the topic at hand.
To get started, simply ask ChatGPT a question related to your topic. For example, if you're interested in the pros and cons of a particular policy, you might ask, "What are the arguments for and against this policy?" ChatGPT will use its vast knowledge base and natural language processing capabilities to provide you with a comprehensive response, including relevant facts, arguments, and counterarguments.
If you want to dig deeper, you can ask follow-up questions or request more specific information. You can also ask ChatGPT to provide you with sources to back up its claims, which can help you evaluate the credibility of the information you're receiving.
Overall, using ChatGPT to research a topic and hear both sides of a debate is a powerful way to gain a more nuanced understanding of complex issues. With its ability to process large amounts of information quickly and efficiently, ChatGPT can help you become a more informed and engaged citizen.
Teach ChatGPT Your Writing Style
Most ChatGPT users only think about the output the chatbot gives. I would argue it's equally important to focus on the input. This leads me to one of my favorite things about ChatGPT - you can easily teach it your writing style.
I see so many people using the chatbot to write content. But they just give it a topic and maybe set a few parameters. This is not the best way to do it. A much better approach would be to teach it your writing style first.
Can ChatGPT really learn your writing style? You tell me. The whole section above explaining how to use the chatbot to hear both sides of a debate was written by ChatGPT after I taught it my writing style.
To do this, I had to copy and paste two different articles I've already posted on this website. Both of the articles were about how to write better prompts for ChatGPT. I instructed the chatbot to emulate my writing style, and I think it did a great job.
Admittedly, I should've used more content than just two articles to teach it. But for the purpose of this article and the point I was trying to make, it worked well. This is the very first time I actually used something an AI model has written in an article. Despite having this type of technology at my fingertips, I still prefer to do all the writing myself.
What I did like was that ChatGPT gave me some positive feedback after I sent it my content. This happened unexpectedly as I didn't instruct it to give me any feedback. I'm not going to lie, this kind of boosted my confidence and self-esteem. It also showed me that I already got on its good side, so I know that I'll be safe in the event of an AI apocalypse.
Constructive Dialogue With ChatGPT
This is a ChatGPT trick that I really love. It can be used in a lot of different ways and it produces extraordinary results. I'll explain the prompt through a simple example. Let's say that you want to go on vacation but you don't know which country to visit.
Here's the prompt you should write to have a constructive dialogue with ChatGPT:
"Each time I send you a message, I want you to check whether you are missing some information to provide me with a good answer. If you are missing information, ask me a question so that you can get it before you give me an answer. Feel free to use this process multiple times, but don't abuse it. You will need to make a decision at some point and give me an answer. Do you understand?"
Here's what I like about this prompt. ChatGPT will ask you relevant questions every time. It will keep doing that until it has enough information to give you a good answer.
I gave the simple example of planning a vacation, but you can use this prompt for just about anything. Let's say that you're starting a business and want to brainstorm ideas. This prompt will help you. You can even use it if you want to find out how to change your diet and start eating healthier.
Assign a Role to ChatGPT
I talked about this in an article on how to write good chat prompts for ChatGPT. It's very important to assign a role to the chatbot if you want to generate content in a specific way.
For instance, imagine you need a marketing campaign to promote a new product or service you developed. You don't have enough money to hire someone to do this, so you enlist the help of ChatGPT. In this case, I would advise you to instruct ChatGPT to act as a marketing expert. Here's what a prompt for something like that would sound like:
"I want you to act as a marketing expert that I hired to promote my new product. Keep in mind that I don't know anything about market research or marketing. You will need to ask me questions to gather the information you need to create a successful marketing campaign. Only once you've gathered all the necessary information by asking me relevant questions should you share the marketing campaign with me."
In my opinion, this is the best way to present the idea to the chatbot. This will help cover all the bases and ensure that you get a great marketing campaign without having to spend any money.
Here you can see the results of my prompt. This exchange between me and the chatbot lasted for some time. It asked the perfect questions that I should know if I'm an entrepreneur with this type of ambition. It asked me about everything from price points to how I plan on manufacturing the toys.
The responses you get from ChatGPT here are not only helpful if you need a marketing campaign. They're also important if you have an idea but are still not sure what it takes to succeed in business. Answering these questions will help you find out what you need to know to sell your product and be prepared for market launch.
There are so many different roles that you can assign to ChatGPT. You can instruct it to act as a motivational speaker, screenwriter, debater, English teacher, and more. It's up to you to decide what you need it for.
If you want it to teach you a certain skill like programming or history, you can provide it with information on how your favorite teacher used to educate their students. This might help you learn a new topic with ease.
Use Follow-Up Prompts
Have you ever received a response from ChatGPT and thought "wait, that's it?" This is bound to happen sooner or later. You expect more from the response than what the large language model generated. It may seem that you need to improve your original prompt to get a better result, but this may not be the case.
Instead, you can give ChatGPT a follow-up prompt. Let's say that you asked the chatbot to write an article with tips on how you can learn to skateboard. If you feel like there isn't enough important information in the article it generated, you can simply write "keep going."
When you ask ChatGPT to keep going, it will generate a bunch of new text that may be exactly what you needed. You can also write other simple instructions like "now write it in the style of a professional skateboarder explaining the ropes to a rookie."
I always advise people not to settle for the first response the chatbot generates. Instead, use a bunch of follow-up prompts to see what type of results you'll get. Experiment with different ideas until you get the perfect response.
Final Thoughts
I shared some of my favorite ChatGPT tips and tricks that I use to get the most out of the chatbot. Keep in mind that this is a growing list since the technology is very new and I'm (just like you) learning a lot about how to interact with large language models.
If you experiment with the chatbot, you may find better ways to write some of the prompts I shared with you today. In fact, I advise you to do just that. Don't just copy and paste a prompt I wrote in this article. Instead, try to find a good way to refine it.
I don't think that anybody can necessarily label themselves as an expert prompt engineer at this point in time. We're all learning how to better interact with an AI-powered tool like ChatGPT. That's why I encourage everyone to share their knowledge and insights with others as much as they can. This is how we grow the community of AI enthusiasts.
