A common complaint about AI is that it just doesn’t give good answers. That’s because you are asking questions. Instead, here’s my guide to how to write a good prompt.
When I first started playing with ChatGPT, somewhere in 2022, I thought I was asking it questions.
I learned quite quickly that I was not asking questions, I was writing something called “prompts”. At first I assumed this was just tech jargon and made a mental note to use the word when I needed to appear cool (and as if I knew what was going on which, at that point, I didn’t).
And after a while, prompting just became the thing you did when interacting with an AI tool, even if you still didn’t fully grasp what you were doing, and thought you were doing a search of some sort.
Some distinctions
Now, in 2025, I do think it’s useful to think separately about questions (or search queries) and prompts.
I’ve been musing on this since seeing a comment during a presentation at the AUTONOMOUS AI conference. Roy Vella, who is CEO of a company called Next Colabs, said:
People treat AI as if it’s search… not their fault, it looks like search! … an empty text box plus decades of query-response training meant it was treated as search. Main critique of 2023 was “I asked a question and it got the answer wrong!” Completely missing the point.
And he has a point: almost all AI tools look a lot like a search engine: a box into which to type text. To see what I mean, look at this collage of (clockwise, from left) the Copilot interface, Google’s search page, its Gemini counterpart and the Bing search page.
In all of them, there’s that familiar box that you type your query into. Which means your brain and your fingers will think: I should type in the sort of question or query that I would put into a search engine.
Search isn’t a thing in AI though
Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot are not search engines. They don’t go out onto the internet to find you the nearest place to have breakfast, or a list of books by your favourite author, or the date that Nelson Mandela was released from prison. You get a list of links and decide which ones are relevant to you: in other words, you do the filtering of the results. These days, search engines will often offer you an AI answer, but you still have the option to look at the links, and hunt around till you find what you want.
Instead, LLMs (Large Language Models on which tools like ChatGPT are based) look at the data that they have “seen” and produce an “answer” that is based on their analysis of that data. They are doing the filtering. (This is a terrible over-simplification but basically what’s happening! There are AI tools that say they do search, but fundamentally they are still doing the processing for you).
The data they have processed is everything on the Internet, and in their impenetrable black boxes they produce a synthesis based on the probable right data.
And that’s how you get things that are super-useful and super-wrong.
RESOURCE: A good if long and technical explanation is here, from Brandon Paddock, who is the principal engineer/architect on Microsoft Editor and Word Copilot: Don’t think of LLMs as search engines – by Brandon Paddock
Back to prompting
You are much more likely to get useful results out of LLMs if you deliberately set out not to do a search. Instead, imagine that you are talking to a new staff member, or an intern, who needs a set of instructions as to what you need them to do.
Here’s how that works: a very bad prompt
My first input into ChatGPT, back in 2022, went like this:
My business goals for 2023 are to become well-known, use my time well and stabilise my financial position. What is my motto?
(A back to the future note: I have no idea why I wanted a motto, but I will stick with that concept in the steps below).
The answers I got:
- Stabilizing my finances while building my brand
- Achieving success through hard work and efficiency
- Establishing a strong financial foundation for growth
- Maximizing my time and resources to achieve my goals
- Balancing financial stability and business growth
Looking back on it, I was some of the way towards working sensibly with AI. I gave a sentence of background to explain my question, but no more than that.
One step up
Now, in 2025, if I wanted to do an exercise of this kind and if I was in a hurry, I’d add in what my business does and move away from the question altogether. I’d probably type in something like this, most of which I’ve taken from my LinkedIn profile:
I run a business that offers B2B copy writing and editing about Gen AI and leadership (blog posts, case studies, custom corporate content, white papers, thought leadership, newsletters). I can also help content teams, start-ups and non-profits bed down AI as a tool in their content creation processes. All my own copy is human-written. My goals for the next year are to become well-known, use my time well and stabilise my financial position. Please suggest five mottoes to guide my thinking in meeting these goals.
The answer that this produces:
Here are five mottoes to guide your thinking in meeting your goals:
- Write to Lead, Not Just to Inform – Position yourself as a thought leader by consistently delivering sharp insights that set you apart.
- Visibility Creates Opportunity – Prioritize marketing yourself through speaking, networking, and publishing in high-impact spaces.
- Work Smart, Scale Wisely – Focus on high-value projects and partnerships that align with your expertise and financial goals.
- AI as an Asset, Not a Threat – Showcase how AI enhances content teams without replacing human creativity.
- Consistency Compounds Success – Small, steady efforts in visibility and efficiency will build long-term stability.
None of these are wonderful, but they are better than the previous response in that they relate more closely to what I do.
Another step up
There are any amount of guides as to how to do good prompting – I like this one: The Only Prompt Formula You’ll Ever Need for ChatGPT
This formula says a prompt should contain these elements:
- Task — The action verb + goal. Start prompts with a clear task.
- Context — Background info to constrain possibilities.
- Exemplars — Examples to guide the AI.
- Persona — Who you want the AI to be.
- Format — Visualise and specify desired structure.
- Tone — Casual, formal, excited, etc.
Let’s have a go, again, at my 2022 task.
I run a business that offers B2B copy writing and editing about Gen AI and leadership (blog posts, case studies, custom corporate content, white papers, thought leadership, newsletters). I can also help content teams, start-ups and non-profits bed down AI as a tool in their content creation processes. All my own copy is human-written. (CONTEXT)
You are an experienced coach who has worked with one-person companies. (PERSONA)
My goals for the next year are to become well-known, use my time well and stabilise my financial position. Please provide a list, with explanations, (FORMAT) of five mottoes to guide my thinking in meeting these goals. (TASK). The mottoes should be friendly and professional in TONE.
You’ll note I haven’t given an exemplar – you don’t always have to have all six steps though I would say task and context are critical.
This time, these are the answers. They’re pretty similar to the last answer, but the explanations are much more detailed and helpful.
1. “Be the voice, not the echo.”
Why? To become well-known, you need to establish yourself as a thought leader. Don’t just rehash common takes on Gen AI and leadership—bring fresh perspectives, personal insights, and real-world applications that others aren’t talking about.
2. “Work smarter, bill better.”
Why? Using your time well means focusing on high-value tasks and pricing your work appropriately. Automate admin, set clear boundaries on project scope, and ensure you’re paid fairly for your expertise.
3. “Show up, share, succeed.”
Why? Visibility is key to growing your reputation and financial stability. Regularly share insights via LinkedIn, your blog, and industry forums. Engagement (not just content) builds authority and attracts the right clients.
4. “AI is a tool, not a threat.”
Why? Your human-written copy is a selling point. Position AI as an enhancer, not a replacement for quality content. This reinforces your expertise and makes you the go-to advisor for businesses navigating AI’s role in content creation.
5. “Consistency builds credibility.”
Why? Whether it’s delivering high-quality work, maintaining your marketing efforts, or following up with leads, steady and predictable action leads to trust, referrals, and a stronger financial foundation.
And a last step up the prompting ladder: keep working with it
I could pick one of the mottoes and ask ChatGPT to refine it, or ask it to suggest a plan of action to make my goals attainable.
Or I could do this: turn the whole thing on its head and ask ChatGPT to ask me questions to clarify my thinking. In that case, my prompt might run like this:
I run a business that offers B2B copy writing and editing about Gen AI and leadership (blog posts, case studies, custom corporate content, white papers, thought leadership, newsletters). I can also help content teams, start-ups and non-profits bed down AI as a tool in their content creation processes. All my own copy is human-written. (CONTEXT)
You are a friendly, professional and experienced coach who has worked with one-person companies. (PERSONA)
My goals for the next year are to become well-known, use my time well and stabilise my financial position. Please ask me questions about these goals so that I can write some mottoes to guide my thinking. (TASK)
And the answer to that?
Great! Let’s dig into each of your goals with some thought-provoking questions. Your answers will help you craft mottoes that keep you focused and inspired.
Becoming Well-Known
- What do you want to be known for—your expertise, your insights, your reliability, or something else?
- How do you want your ideal clients to describe you when recommending you to others?
- What platforms or strategies will you use to raise your profile (social media, guest articles, speaking, networking, etc.)?
- What’s one word or phrase that captures your unique approach to AI and content?
Using Your Time Well
- What activities give you the highest return on time invested?
- Are there any time-wasting habits or distractions you want to eliminate?
- Do you prefer working in focused deep work sessions, batching tasks, or another method?
- What’s one guiding principle that helps you stay productive without burning out?
Stabilizing Your Financial Position
- What does financial stability mean to you—consistent income, better pricing, ideal clients, or something else?
- What types of clients or projects do you want more of to increase your stability?
- How do you balance charging fair rates with maintaining strong client relationships?
- What’s one financial mindset shift you need to embrace to reach your goal?
Answering these will help you craft mottoes that feel personal and motivating. Let me know if you’d like help refining them! 😊
I suspect that spending time answering some (or all) of these questions would have been much more useful to me back in 2022.
In summary, my top tips for prompting:
1. Think about what you want done – and try to do that with the mindset that you are talking to a human being who needs a decent explanation of what’s needed.
2. Be specific, and give as much detail as possible.
3. If your prompt doesn’t generate a decent answer, try again!
4. Use the AI tool as a sounding board, rather than expecting a list of results.
THINGS YOU WERE AFRAID TO ASK FOR FEAR OF LOOKING SILLY
Renee, I’ve written something and I suspect it’s not very well done. But I don’t want to ask AI to write it for me. How can I use AI to improve my writing?
I have just the prompt for you – it’s simple, direct and gets the job done without making your writing sound like it was produced by AI:
Please edit this text. Do not rewrite it. Just correct spelling and grammar errors, using Standard British English / Standard United States English:
And then copy and paste your original text
I’ve tried this, particularly on writing done by second or third-language English speakers, and it does a great job of tidying up without losing the person’s voice and personality.
And that’s it for this week. If there’s a question you’d like me to answer, or a topic you’d like covered, use my contact form. I can’t promise to answer everything (especially deeply technical questions), but I can generally get us all pointed in the right direction.
OTHER THINGS I HAVE WRITTEN
What writers really need to worry about (hint: it’s not spelling) | Safe Hands
When communication is a generational thing | Safe Hands
How to get away from Google search | Safe Hands
Renee’s four golden rules of artificial intelligence | Safe Hands
Main picture: Emiliano Vittoriosi, Unsplash
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