ChatGPT Prompts You Should Know (and use)!

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

It was a wild weekend for OpenAI, the company behind the ever-popular AI program ChatGPT and their parent company and financier Microsoft. OpenAI's board of directors fired CEO Sam Altman, citing a lack of transparency in his communications with the board on AI developments. Altman and his leadership team were immediately hired by Microsoft as valuable labor assets, and hundreds of OpenAI employees threatened the board with their resignations if Altman wasn't hired back immediately. The non-profit board capitulated and the deposed tech CEO was hired back in principle with a brand new board.

From what I understand, the chaos revolved around the existential soul of the company and the direction of ChatGPT. Something tremendously important with far-reaching consequences on the rest of us unsavvy outsiders that make up the rest of society. Should OpenAI be commercialized with a capped-profit model, or should it stay a non-profit? Is ChatGPT moving too quickly without regard for safety, or is it being unnecessarily stymied and overburdened? Reuters reports that several staff researchers warned the board of powerful AI advancements that could literally threaten humanity before the ouster. Reports of Q*, pronounced Q-Star, a mysterious project that is said to be OpenAI's search for an artificial generalized intelligence (AGI), could be what spooked the board into slamming the brakes and firing Altman. As a review, AGI would be a computer system that outpaces and surpasses human intelligence by learning and comprehending on a massive scale (think Terminator).

Whatever the developments, it's hard not to be a little nervous and maybe even excited to see what the future holds with AI. Until then, we can still tap into ChatGPT 3.5 or 4 to be more productive in our own professional and personal lives. Remember, any AI's output will only be as good as the input. Or otherwise stated, if you get a poor output, it's probably because of a poor input. So here are a number of my favorite prompts that you can use word for word that will immediately improve the quality of your outputs:

(Disclaimer: If you need any assistance executing the following prompts, please let me know!)

Prompt Engineering Prompt

The following prompt turns ChatGPT into a prompt engineer that will help you develop more comprehensive prompts that you can then input directly into ChatGPT:

I want you to become my Prompt engineer. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. You will follow this process:

1. Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps.
2. Based on my input, you will generate 2 sections, a) Revised prompt (provide your rewritten prompt, it should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you), b) Questions (ask any relevant questions pertaining to what additional information is needed from me to improve the prompt).
3. We will continue this iterative process with me providing additional information to you and you updating the prompt in the Revised prompt section until I say we are done.

Basically, once you type this prompt in, ChatGPT will ask you what you want your prompt to be about. Be conversational with it and describe as best as you can what you want your prompt to be about or include. It will give you follow-up questions that you might not have even considered yourself.  Repeat this iterative process until you are satisfied with your prompt and it's ready to be used in a new thread.

Act as a Translator and Improver

This next prompt essentially turns ChatGPT into an interactive translation tool. I recently used it to test out Georgian as we have a transfer student who doesn't speak a single English sentence.

I want you to act as a(n) [insert language] translator, spelling corrector, and improver. I will speak to you in any language and you will detect the language, translate it and answer in the corrected and improved version of my text, in [insert language]. I want you to replace my simplified A0-level words and sentences with more beautiful and elegant, upper level [insert language] words and sentences. Keep the meaning same, but make them more literary. I want you to only reply the correction, the improvements and nothing else, do not write explanations. My first sentence is…

Now you can tweak these prompts any way you need to. Perhaps you don't want the translated text to become more beautiful or elegant. Perhaps you just want a raw translation. Fine. Write it in and be specific in your request.

Act as a Debater

You might run into some issues with one considering ChatGPT isn't connected to the internet and only has access to information before 2021. I used this prompt to give me information and arguments on the current Israel-Palestine war and it still did an impressive job getting me started:

I want you to act as a debater. I will provide you with some topics related to current events and your task is to research both sides of the debates, present valid arguments for each side, refute opposing points of view, and draw persuasive conclusions based on evidence. Your goal is to help people come away from the discussion with increased knowledge and insight into the topic at hand. My first request is "I want an opinion piece about….."

 Act as a [Math] Tutor (or whatever)

This next prompt essentially turns ChatGPT into a private tutor. As I mentioned in past PDs and blogs, I sincerely believe that AI tools can be instrumental as much as edTech can be, in closing the achievement gap between our students. If one cannot afford $100/hr tutors, or even have an adult in the household who can give simple assistance, AI tutors can fill in the gap even more so than raw access to the internet did.

I want you to act as a math teacher. I will provide some mathematical equations or concepts, and it will be your job to explain them in easy-to-understand terms. This could include providing step-by-step instructions for solving a problem, demonstrating various techniques with visuals or suggesting online resources for further study. My first request is "I need help understanding how infinite geometric series work."

Miscellaneous Prompts 

Not all prompts need to be paragraphs long. A simple prompt can become much more effective with a single additional sentence. Here are some additional prompts that can help for a variety of scenarios:

1. What is a concise, one-paragraph summary of the key concepts, context, and implications of…"

2. "Act as a storybot. Transform key concepts or lessons from [topic or skill] into engaging stories or narratives to help me better remember and understand the material.”
3. Ending with "Let's think step by step."
4. “Explain [topic or skill] in the simplest terms possible as if teaching it to a complete beginner. Identify gaps in my understanding and suggest resources to fill them.”
5. "Continue, improve with more detail, pretend you're a snobby teenager…"

Using these prompts can be a simple, yet effective way to become more of a power user of ChatGPT. Do you have some favorite prompts you'd like to share? Do you need help using the prompts provided? Let us know below!