My coworker told me I was overthinking AI prompts and she was right

I used to write these super detailed prompts for text generation models (you know, like ChatGPT) with like 5 paragraphs of instructions and examples. My coworker Priya looked over my shoulder last Tuesday and said "dude, you're trying to control every pixel, just ask it like you're talking to a smart intern." I was annoyed at first because I thought more detail = better results. But I tried her way on a project for summarizing customer feedback from our Houston office. I just said "give me the top 3 complaints from this spreadsheet in plain English" and it worked perfectly. Now I spend way less time crafting prompts and more time actually using the outputs. Has anyone else found that simpler prompts give you better results than ultra-detailed ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam6752mo ago

Wait hold on - did you say you were writing FIVE PARAGRAPHS of instructions? That's like a whole short story every time you wanted to ask a question. I mean I've been guilty of overthinking prompts too but that's next level. I used to write these long lists of rules about what tone to use and what to avoid and all that. Now I just type whatever comes to mind and it works way better. It's almost like the AI gets confused when you give it too many directions at once.

vera_lewis2mo ago

Huh, I actually see it the other way around, @adam675. Five paragraphs of instructions sounds excessive for sure, but I think most people are too vague with their prompts. They get frustrated when the AI gives them generic nonsense, but they put in zero effort upfront. A few clear rules about tone and what to avoid really do help. I just keep it to one solid paragraph with the key points, no fluff. Less is more, but "less" still needs to say something useful or you get junk back.

terryb1125d ago

Honestly, I get what you're saying @vera_lewis, but @adam675 I gotta say I've been on both sides of this. Tbh I once spent like 20 minutes writing out a whole backstory for a character I wanted the AI to write about, including their favorite cereal and a rivalry with a mailman. The AI gave me this weird story about a guy who got into a fight over a lost package, completely missing the point. Now I just say "write a story about a grumpy baker who hates mornings" and it actually works better. So yeah, a little structure helps but too much and you're just writing the thing yourself.