Try these expert-recommended prompting techniques and discover daily use cases that may surprise you in the final segment of this three-part series.
In the final installment of our series with Dr. Jules White, award-winning computer science professor and Vanderbilt鈥檚 Senior Advisor on Generative AI, we鈥檙e focusing on hands-on prompting techniques. With his distinct blend of technical expertise and visual arts background, Dr. White has shown how AI can be a collaborative partner in work, education, and the creative process. Here, he shares actionable techniques that reveal how even small adjustments to your prompting approach can yield powerful results.听
While many employers are ramping AI adoption in the workplace, Dr. White suggests that taking ownership of your learning by experimenting outside the workplace can prompt meaningful breakthroughs. 鈥淵ou can rely on your employer to help you figure it out, but my recommendation is to invest in yourself,鈥 he says. By focusing on creative, personal applications, you can gain a deeper understanding of how GenAI complements your processes without the constraints of workplace guidelines. For example, Dr. White鈥檚 wife uses AI to streamline their cooking routines.听
One day, while chatting with a friend, she mentioned how she鈥檇 used AI to create a new recipe. Her friend鈥檚 reaction was skeptical: 鈥淲hy on earth would you ever use ChatGPT to generate a recipe? Why wouldn鈥檛 you just go look it up on a blog or in a cookbook?鈥 This realization that AI could do things that traditional means like cookbooks and blogs couldn鈥檛 sparked Dr. White鈥檚 inspiration for his ChatGPT Meal Planning 肠辞耻谤蝉别.听
鈥淲hen you show up at the end of a long day and you鈥檙e tired, and you don鈥檛 want to cook whatever you had planned, no blog or website can fix or plan around that. But I can give ChatGPT a screenshot of my calendar and it can recognize that I鈥檓 really busy on these two days, so I won鈥檛 want a complicated recipe. Or, if you鈥檝e got a limited set of options in your fridge, and you snap a picture of what you actually have left and say, 鈥楪ive me a really creative recipe that has these parameters,鈥 it can do it.鈥
These types of applications, he says, demonstrate how people can use GenAI more thoughtfully and effectively based on their personal lives and experiences.听
Dr. White has found success using a technique he learned from friend and AI consultant , which he later adapted into the quicker version he now calls the 鈥淜een Pattern鈥 in his classes. This straightforward, two-step process has become a go-to for Dr. White for generating better outputs by aligning results with specific goals.听
Step one: Clearly define the goal and its qualities. 鈥[Thing] is what I鈥檓 trying to do or create,鈥 followed by an exploration of how the outcome will be evaluated. For example, he might ask, 鈥淲hat would our goal be for a really good [thing]?鈥 or 鈥淲hat are the ideal qualities of [the thing]?鈥
Step two: Instruct the AI to create something based on those characteristics. 鈥淕o and create a [thing] that has those qualities.鈥澛
It鈥檚 a great way to fine-tune AI results and can even be applied to planning by asking, 鈥淗ow would you do this?鈥 and then instructing the AI to run with the plan it just created. This method, Dr. White explains, not only helps clarify the goal but also creates an opportunity to adjust and refine the output.听
鈥淲hen I see the goals laid out, it also gives me an opportunity to edit it and say, 鈥極h, I don鈥檛 care about that. But I do care about this thing that you didn鈥檛 include.鈥 This helps me to start thinking more in terms of goals and outcomes I鈥檓 trying to achieve, and other things I might be trying to achieve that I hadn鈥檛 thought of.鈥澛犅
Dr. White shares a personal "Aha!" moment that transformed his thinking about persona patterns.
A persona pattern is a prompting technique that helps you get creative with AI by instructing it to take on a specific character or role. Using persona patterns helps guide the AI鈥檚 output by narrowing the scope of its perspective to 鈥渂e鈥 something specific, like a detective, a clown, or even a machine under attack. When Dr. White observed people telling AI, 鈥淎ct as a computer,鈥 it dramatically shifted his perspective on the power of the persona.听
鈥淚 suddenly realized, 鈥極h, wait! A persona can be anything. You can dream up a simulation by describing the persona of the thing that you want to simulate,鈥 he says.听
He tested this approach in his cybersecurity class, instructing the AI to act as a computer that had been the victim of a cyberattack. The result led to an 鈥淎ha鈥 moment.
鈥淲hat's interesting is that it would dream up things that had been done to that computer during a cyberattack that made it respond differently than normal. This was an 鈥楢ha!鈥 moment for me, realizing a persona could be much more than just a human being.鈥澛
A lot of times, we resist change, and we fear change, but change is the definition of life.
By rethinking the way we approach prompts, we can not only capitalize on AI鈥檚 ever-growing technical capabilities but also use it to amplify our own. Dr. White's passion for AI is driven by the realization that we鈥檙e just scratching the surface. "What keeps me in this field," he says, "is that we haven鈥檛 even begun to fully tap into the capabilities of the first version of ChatGPT, yet we've rocketed off to all these other versions. The amount of exploration that we have to do at this unique point in time, I feel like I'm just lucky enough to be experiencing a fundamental change in what humans and computers can do.鈥澛
While we may be experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime moment with AI, Dr. White acknowledges how easy it can be to feel fearful and pull back from technological advancements.
鈥淎 lot of times, we resist change, and we fear change, but change is the definition of life,鈥 he says. 鈥淎ll this movement is injecting more life into what we do. It's different than we might expect, it鈥檚 harder to predict, but it鈥檚 what makes things exciting. We should embrace and be excited about what's happening and all the potential and the creativity that's going to take place.鈥
In Vanderbilt University鈥檚 Prompt Engineering Specialization with Dr. White, you鈥檒l learn to increase the quality of AI outputs in and out of the workplace for more trustworthy results that build upon, rather than replace, your creative vision.听
To practice using ChatGPT to enhance your everyday routine, try ChatGPT Meal Planning: Effortlessly Plan and Cook with AI.听
If you haven鈥檛 yet, be sure to check out the other articles in this series: AI Creativity Unleashed: Expert Insights from Vanderbilt鈥檚 Dr. Jules White to learn more about how AI can reinforce your creative process and Reimagining Work and Learning with AI: Expert Insights from Dr. Jules White to explore AI鈥檚 impact on how we learn and work.听Want to go deeper? Keep exploring the exciting world of prompt engineering with Dr. White in our full video interview.
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