The One Prompt You Need for AI

As the demand for chatbots and AI tools increases, so does the number of snake oil salesmen. LinkedIn and Twitter are bursting with “experts” trying to convince you that you’ll be lost if you don’t buy their list of 9,999 prompts or their “cheatsheet.” But you don’t need a map to use a chatbot, you just need to know how to ask for directions.

The truth is, there's only one prompt most of us need to know: “how can you help me..?”

It’s the classic communication challenge between marketers and engineers. A marketer asks for a specific set of data to answer a question; getting that specific data takes a complex SQL query and significant data processing, but the engineer gives the marketer what they ask for.

The best engineers and the best marketers don’t assume they know all of their counterpart’s capabilities, but instead start by understanding the project’s end goal. This approach allows the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts; often an engineer will have a faster way to get to a more insightful answer than the marketer knew was possible.

The same is true in AI. If you ask a chatbot how it can help you complete a specific task or what additional questions it has for you in order to complete a query, you’ll often achieve a more meaningful output than you knew was possible.

By asking for help, you're not only ensuring that your chatbot can perform its task correctly, but you're also improving your overall user experience - less frustration, less time, better output.

Don't fall for the marketing tactics that try to convince you that you need a list of 40 prompts or a cheatsheet to make chatbots and AI tools useful. Instead, remember the one prompt you need for chatbot success: asking for help. With this simple concept you can get the most out of your chatbot.