A prompt is your instruction. The quality of the answer depends directly on the quality of the request. The good news: writing a good one comes down to a handful of principles you can learn quickly.

The 4 ingredients of a good prompt

1. The role: « Act as a trainer for complete beginners… »
2. The context: « … I am preparing a one-hour workshop for retirees. »
3. The precise task: « Suggest a 5-step outline. »
4. The expected format: « As a bulleted list, with a duration for each step. »

Compare for yourself

❌ Weak prompt: « Tell me about AI. »
✅ Effective prompt: « Act as a science communicator. In 150 words, explain what generative AI is to non-technical employees, using an everyday analogy and no jargon. »

The second gives a context, an audience, a length, a style and a constraint. The result is incomparably more useful.

Golden rule: the more precise you are about the who, the what and the how, the better the answer.