1. Smarter prompts, better answers
It's pretty wild how shortening a prompt can improve it. But if we dive under the hood of ChatGPT we can understand why and how this is possible.
At its core ChatGPT is a Large Language Model or LLM, which is a succinct way of saying that ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence system trained on massive amounts of text data, enabling them to learn patterns and relationships between words.
When given a prompt, ChatGPT produces text by repeatedly predicting the most probable next word in a sequence, based entirely on patterns it's previously encountered. You may have noticed this as you were waiting for ChatGPT’s response to your prompts: responses are streamed back word by word as ChatGPT produces them. Essentially, LLMs don't truly understand meaning; they rely purely on statistical likelihood to generate responses. This process allows them to produce human-like text by continuing sentences.
To understand how this works, we need to introduce transformers, the powerful neural network architecture behind models like ChatGPT. Transformers process text, converting words and sentences into numerical data the model can analyze. Transformers, help ChatGPT determine how each word relates to others in the sentence, capturing context and meaning based on patterns learned from vast amounts of training data.
By transforming natural la
nguage into numerical representations, transformers enable ChatGPT to accurately predict the next word and maintain the conversation. Because of these transformations, shorter and more focused prompts often yield better results. Long, overly detailed prompts risk overwhelming the model with too much information, diluting the clarity of your request and saturating the conversation, whereas concise prompts help the model better grasp your intent and deliver precise, relevant responses.
To bring it all together, let's look at a prompt template to help guide you and keep the LLM and all its transformers happy.
Let's break down this simple but powerful prompt template.
You are a persona. You've been tasked with a task. This sets the role and the goal, helping ChatGPT understand the type of response you want. For example, asking as a marketing expert versus a teacher will lead to very different answers.
Next, we specify the relevant context. Adding key details here ensures ChatGPT has the background it needs to give an accurate and focused answer. Finally, we wrap it up with a few good examples. Providing an example helps ChatGPT match the tone and style you're aiming for, making the response more accurate and consistent.
You won't always need a prompt template, but it is incredibly helpful when you're first starting out. Try prompt templates yourself, experiment with different structures, and ultimately develop your prompting style. Let’s get back to the exercises.
2. Let's practice!