AI Prompting Beyond Bad Outputs

AI Prompting: Beyond Bad Outputs
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Personal Journey
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* Taking top prompting courses
* Reading official docs on LLMs (Large Language Models)
* Consulting expert prompt engineers (Daniel Mesler, Eric Pope, Joseph Thacker)
Understanding Prompting
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* Prompting is a „call to action“ or program to an LLM, not a question
* LLMs are predictive engines, not mere machines
Example and Persona Technique
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* Example with Google Gemini: generic prompt yields generic completion
* Using placeholders and context improves specificity
* Giving the AI a defined role (e.g., senior site reliability engineer for CloudFlare) improves tone and ownership
System vs. User Prompt Distinctions
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* System prompts set AI identity and behavior
* User prompts provide task details
Context is Key
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* Detailed facts prevent hallucinations; model fills gaps incorrectly
* Using tools like web search to update knowledge beyond training cutoffs requires careful source verification
LLMs‘ Memory Limitations
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* Always provide necessary context rather than assuming the model remembers prior chats
* „Give the AI permission to fail“: explicitly allow the model to say „I don’t know“
Advanced Techniques
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* Zero-shot prompting: ask for a task without examples
* Few-shot prompting: provide example outputs to show desired style and structure
Chain of Thought (COT) or Extended Thinking
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* Instruct the model to think step by step before responding
* Improve reasoning and trust through self-correction and diverse options
Trees of Thought (TOT): Explore Multiple Reasoning Paths Simultaneously
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* Enable self-correction and diverse options through exploration of multiple paths
Adversarial Validation
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* Generate competing drafts from different personas, critique them, refine
* Improve prompt quality through iterative refinement
Meta Skills Highlighted
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* Clarity of thought—defining persona, context, logic steps, and examples before prompting
Encouraging Further Learning
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* Building a prompt library and using prompt-enhancer tools to refine raw ideas
* Continued learning encouraged through personal prayer for viewers
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWBcsxEoLk