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.