Improvisation #1 on The Art of the Prompt and Brief
Are we learning to communicate for better or worse?
Social Media Platforms are flooded with guides on how to prompt ChatGPT and other AI models. There are pages and pages of prompt examples, structures, best practices and more. I’m sure that some of the creators are making good money from it too. During the emergence of AI into the public consciousness many jumped on ChatGPT, excited, to test and explore. Those who did so seriously quickly learned that in order to use the technology to their best abilities, they had to adapt their approach depending on the desired results.
What a shock – I know…
If we want to use tools like ChatGPT to the best of their capacity, we have to learn to communicate on their terms. When I tried ChatGPT early on, I was quickly disappointed by the detailed but generic answers it generated. I keep coming back to it here and now, but it’s not yet fully integrated in any of my processes. Apparently, this is not an unusual circumstance and “67.7% of marketers say that a lack of knowledge and time are the two
biggest reasons against using AI tools” (Authority Hacker). It boils down to the question: Will the return on my investment be worth it? Or should I prioritize existing work that is an income stream at the moment? For most of us, the priority will be on nurturing existing income.
This is not a musing on how to learn to use AI tools while working full-time and making a living. No, with this piece, I really want to investigate the thought:
We need to learn to communicate on AI’s Terms
That was scary to write … Let’s rephrase
We need to learn to communicate on AI’s Terms – or do we?
Communicating on the AI’s terms means to learn what structure and type of language gets you the results you are looking for. This requires you to generally know what you want or need. Arguably, that’s something we all should be working on (but that’s for another post). Creators and AI ‘gurus’ refer to this process as prompting. In my world I would call this a brief. Though often you deliver a brief to a human collaborator or team.
The art of the brief
Writing a good brief takes practice and skill. Depending on how you approach the relationship, you might want to be broader or narrower. A broader brief is especially good in a collaborative creative relationship where you want to invite your counterpart’s perspective and creativity. A narrow brief might be necessary when you are working with someone who has less experience or is unfamiliar with your industry.
Every brief should have the following elements:
An overview: Describes the project and gives a background on the relevant Stakeholders
Desired outcomes: This is where you describe what you want and why. (e.g. photographs, blog posts, a financial forecast, etc)
The Why: What is the intended purpose of the outcomes? How do they support in moving the stakeholders to the next stage based on the overview
References: Let your collaborator know where you are drawing inspiration from or perhaps what you know is not going to work.
The Process: Outline how you intend to work together. Provide a structure or how you want to work (e.g. a photoshoot, a series of workshops, exchanges via email, a list of suggestions delivered to you).
Expectations: Make sure that you are clear on expectations. While these are present in the sections before, you should articulate how you expect to communicate, or highlight anything else that is a priority for you.
The budget: Having a clear budget will eliminate any nasty surprises down the road, such as overspending or work that doesn’t meet the quality imagined.
What’s the difference between a prompt and a brief?
On the surface, a prompt and a brief are pretty similar. As an example, I broke down one of Ruben Hassid’s prompts. It clearly displays all the elements of a good brief. He outlines how he wants the AI to act. Provides context to hint toward some of the why. There are clear expectations which constrain the work and scope and a list of desired outcomes for the AI to produce.
For this particular prompt references or a budget is not needed but the framework is in place.
Prompting and briefing is not that different and if we can write great prompts for AI, surely, we must be excellent at briefing as well! Not necessarily.
There is one big difference with a brief: You are talking to other human beings. Emotion, creativity, and enthusiasm can make a massive difference for the outcome of a project. The brief can be a way to get your collaborators excited about the goals and future achievements. An AI program won’t show the same excitement.
The other aspect is maintaining a relationship or building one. While you can put hundreds of variations of briefs into an AI program until you find the right one, you often only get one or two chances with your human collaborators. Sure, they can ask you questions to refine the brief, but if you change your mind half-way through and expect them to follow you along, you might damage your relationship.
The beauty of a human collaborative relationship is the development of a shared language after working together for a while. The same is true for a brand who engages with their community. If they truly engage, the brand’s language will adapt and evolve.
Can the same be said for AI? Of course, you can train a program on your tone of voice and language, or you can prompt it to take a certain stance. But where is the magic? The excitement you feel when you collaborate and stumble upon something out of the ordinary.
Let’s Continue to Find Moments of Magic
There are a lot of positives to be said about AI prompting and learning how to effectively communicate with the program. In fact, there is something to be said about the specificity you need to develop in writing a good prompt that gets you the results you are are looking for. A lot of this directness and specific context should be included in a brief to human collaborators.
While AI continues to be exciting and optimizes a number of processes and tasks, let’s not forget to pursue the moments of magic that can come when communicating with other human beings. It can definitely be frustrating being misunderstood, but we need to learn to communicate with each other. Including different personalities, languages, cultures, and approaches. I fear that the copy/paste approach for AI prompts is simply not going to cut it for our every-day lives.
Let’s take the specificity and framing that AI requires but continue to pursue the moments of magic in human communication and collaboration. Learn how to speak to ‘your audience’ and continue to develop your emotional and cultural intelligence.
After all, imagine speaking to someone in the form of an AI prompt …