5 AI Prompts to Elevate your Chatbot

Have you heard of Artificial Intelligence? Some say it’s the next big thing.

Of course you have. The question now is not whether you use it, it’s how. How do you apply it where it’s needed, and how to you get the most value from it?

AI is incredibly powerful, but to harness it properly you need to master the power of the prompt. It’s only as good as what you ask it to do. Below are 5 prompts that will turbocharge your usage.

Criticise

You've spent ages working on a proposal for something, and are nearly ready to send it to your boss. Get AI to proof read it for you, but ask it to be negative. It's a lot easier to hear criticism from a chatbot than it is a human!

AI will usually be kind and affirmative instead of confrontational and disagreeable. Instead of asking ‘is this document ok?’, ask it to criticise it directly. You don't have to agree with everything it says, but usually it nails any crucial issues so you can fix them.

The Prompt:

Attached is [Document] for [Audience]. Criticise this document. Look for problems with grammar, spelling, logic and tone."

Don't forget to attach the document!

Teach

AI can be great at regurgitating large walls of information, but what if you want to actually learn something? 

Get AI to deliver information in a way that you can really take it in - and make it interactive! AI can ask you questions to check you've grasped a concept before it moves on.

The Prompt:

Teach me about [Topic]. Give me one concept at a time and check my understanding with clear questions along the way. Do not move to the next concept until I’ve answered correctly.

Debate

There's no better way of preparing for a big meeting where you know there will be opposing views than role playing it first.

This allows you to order your thoughts, and maybe the AI will think of something you haven't when it argues against you! But the true value in this comes after - don't just do it once, do it twice - but the second time, reverse the roles.

Arguing for the thing you disagree with will do two things. Firstly, it will put you in the mindset of the other side, making you really try to see things from their point of view. Secondly, it will show you how the AI would handle your perspective, and may give you arguments you hadn't thought of.

The Prompt:

I am [Role A]. You are [Role B]. You believe [Perspective X] and I believe [Perspective Y]. Debate me on the merits of our positions—you go first.

Tidy

Every now and again, I get to leave the office and go to a conference, or a trade show. I meet lots of people and get to hear about a lot of stuff. 

I usually open a Google Keep note on my phone at the start of the day, and just add to it randomly throughout when I want to remember something. This leads to a big page of incoherent scribbles with no structure.

Previously, I had to sit and read through it the next day, trying to sort it and pick out anything that required an action. Not any more!

The Prompt:

Tidy these notes. Organise them into key themes, and identify any actions clearly. 

Generate

This is where Artificial Intelligence is the real time saver, right? Why right a project plan yourself - Copilot/ChatGPT/Gemini can do it for you instantly!

Well yes, it can. But for a really accurate and useful proposal, or document, or whatever it is you want, it helps to be as specific as possible. This may lead to a prompt that is quite long, but that is good. The more you put in, the more you'll get out.

The Prompt:

"Act as a Senior Systems Architect. Generate a comprehensive Project Plan to migrate a legacy Exchange 2016 server to Exchange Management Tools.

Context: All mailboxes are already in Exchange Online. There are no legacy SMTP relay requirements.
Specific Tasks: Include a step-by-step implementation guide for the cleanup of Active Directory attributes, the installation of the Management Tools, and the final server shutdown procedure.
Constraints: The plan must prioritize zero downtime for end-users and follow Microsoft Best Practices.
Output Format: Present this as a numbered technical guide with a 'Pre-Flight Checklist' at the beginning."

Conclusion

It's really easy to treat AI chatbots as glorified search engines, but they are so much more powerful than that. With the right prompts, AI can become a fully fledged personal assistant, improving your work, teaching you and refining your knowledge. 

Which of these will you try first?