October 02, 2024
Generative artificial intelligence, and ChatGPT in particular, is revolutionizing how we work. Perhaps you’ve tried it out of curiosity, or maybe you’re already using it regularly as part of your job. But getting the most out of this remarkable tool boils down to mastering the art of the prompt. The clearer and more specific your instructions, the more accurate and relevant the results will be. Luc Lespérance, an expert in the subject at Executive Education HEC Montréal, has a few tips on how to make ChatGPT an even more powerful virtual assistant.
Nearly two years after the launch of ChatGPT, the seemingly endless possibilities of this generative AI chatbot are still being explored. Its ability to automate repetitive, low-value tasks has been a game-changer, but the more passionate technophiles are particularly excited about the potential of GPT-4, the latest version of the platform, as instructor Luc Lespérance explains.
Team productivity, for one, stands to benefit immensely. “ChatGPT can be very effective for all sorts of text-based tasks. It can summarize, edit and translate documents, and it can be used to change writing style or tone in an instant,” says Lespérance. But it can also generate new written content, suggest ideas, produce code and write Excel formulas. And that’s where things start to get interesting.
“ChatGPT is great in helping to understand and distill information from a text,” says Lespérance, who nevertheless recognizes that there are limits to what it can do. It’s important to always bear in mind that there is no actual thought behind ChatGPT’s responses to prompts. It uses deep learning to analyze patterns and provide statistically probable answers. And, as Lespérance points out, it’s prone to mistakes. So what’s the secret to maximizing its benefits? Creating better prompts!
What is a prompt?
A prompt is an instruction or input provided to an artificial intelligence model like ChatGPT to generate a response. The more clearly worded a prompt, the better the AI will be in providing a suitable answer aligned to the user’s needs. An effective prompt often includes specific requirements aimed at ensuring the quality of the results.
Good prompts, good results
Being clear and precise is the key to using ChatGPT effectively, says Lespérance, one of the instructors of Powerful Prompts: Create Effective Queries on ChatGPT at Executive Education HEC Montréal. The quality of the responses depends directly on how well written the prompt is. And he maintains that formal training in prompt engineering is the best way to hone these skills.
It starts with refining and clarifying your prompts, he says. Want to get ChatGPT to help you organize the perfect summer trip? The more specific you are with your own input, the more likely the results are to meet your expectations. Remember to provide as much context as possible and to include any relevant constraints. For example, you could say: “I want to spend my summer vacation in Quebec, on such and such dates, with no air travel, and I want some ideas for fun activities for children in a given age range.” The suggestions you’ll get will likely be much more suited to your needs than had you simply asked, “What are the best places to travel in 2024?”
That being said, generative AI is evolving very quickly, and everything is subject to change. “The prompts we write today might not return the same results six months or a year down the road, once a new version of ChatGPT is out,” warns Lespérance. So keeping up with the latest developments is a must.
A word of caution about the risks of generative AI
With so many possibilities to explore with ChatGPT, Lespérance suggests that organizations consider putting pilot projects in place to let employees “play” with the platform and see where it leads. “It’s a matter of managing in-house innovation. Employees need to be educated about how to use these tools, the lines of communication need to stay open and meaningful action needs to be taken.”
He feels that experimenting with the technology will help employees learn how to interact with it effectively and will help organizations create sound policies around its use. The free version of ChatGPT obviously comes with some risks, from compromised data privacy to inherent bias.
“It’s all fine and dandy to have access to these leading-edge technologies, but we also have to manage the underlying infrastructure,” says Lespérance, who sees a direct line between data governance and the quality of the results obtained, depending on the context of each organization. It’s no wonder then that so many businesses are now looking to develop their own system specific to their needs. When your employer suggests looking into these avenues, will your prompt writing skills be up to the task? That is the question!
Learn more
Executive Education HEC Montréal offers several courses in digital intelligence.
Both Powerful Prompts: Create Effective Queries on ChatGPT and Be More Productive and More Creative with ChatGPT and Generative AI are available in downtown Montreal. Their content is tailor-made for today’s AI-curious professionals, executives, business owners and entrepreneurs.
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