AI Prompting: Basic to Pro Upgrade

Your AI output feels generic because you don't know how to prompt.

I am not a coder or AI engineer. 2 years ago, I knew nothing about prompting. But after starting from the basics, learning, testing, iterating, I learned exactly what one needs to get their desired output from AI.

Today, I’ll list out how you can get to the basic level of prompting and eventually upgrade to being a Pro AI Prompter.

What is a Prompt?

Prompting = AI’s Instruction Manual

Definition: A prompt is any input (text/image) guiding AI to generate output.

Analogy: Like a chef’s recipe; clarity determines quality.

Goal: Translate your intent into AI-understandable language.

Start Here: Non-Negotiable Basics

• Be Specific: "Explain 3 economic impacts of Arctic ice melt in 300 words."

• Set Context: Example: “Act as a science journalist writing for teens…”

• Define Output Format: Example: "Summarize as bullet points/markdown table."

Level Up: Precision Engineering

• Role-Play Prompting: “Act as a skeptical historian analyzing this theory.”

• Few-Shot Learning: Provide 1–3 examples to demonstrate patterns.

• Chunking: Break complex tasks into steps. “Step 1: Identify key themes. Step 2: Compare X vs Y…”

Expert Level: Pro Techniques