AI tools are changing the game for creatives and professionals. Just look at the picture associated with this article ^, which was made using MidJourney, an image-generating algorithm that leverages AI. The more we understand the capabilities of these tools, the more professionals will begin to jump on the wave and see just how much their life can benefit from using them. Whether you're looking to automate workflows such as customer service or just generate content, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has a lot to offer. However, like any other tool, it's only as good as the person using it. If you want to get the best results from ChatGPT, you'll need to know how to prompt it properly. In this article, we'll explore a few tips, tricks, and secrets to help you get the most out of your time with ChatGPT.

1. Be Specific and Clear in Your Prompts:ChatGPT (specifically GPT-3) is a powerful model, but it's still just artificial intelligence. It can't read your mind and it certainly is not an all-knowing being, so it's imperative that you're specific and clear when you prompt it. For example, if you're looking for information on a particular topic, make sure to provide a clear and specific prompt that outlines what you're looking for. Instead of saying "tell me how to make money", you could say "Pretend that you are a dropshipping expert with 10 years of experience in the Shopify space, provide me with a business plan that includes the latest tips and tricks to help me create a successful online store".In the latter example, I made sure to provide the model with a specific industry and my target, but I also set the tone of the response by establishing the role that I’d like the model to approach my prompt with (more on this in Tip #3). Had I just stuck with prompt #1, my response would have been very generic and unspecific to things that I might be interested in using to make money.
2. Context is Everything: Use it to Your Advantage:One thing I love taking advantage of but sooo many people seem to overlook, is that ChatGPT can maintain context across multiple turns of conversation and even other chats between you and the model. This means that it can understand the context of a conversation and respond accordingly. To take advantage of this, it's important to provide the context in your prompts. For example, if you're having a conversation with ChatGPT about a particular topic, make sure to mention that topic (or chat – you’ll see that each of your chats with GPT is titled) in subsequent prompts. This will help ChatGPT understand the context of the conversation and respond more accurately.
3. Watch Your Tone: How do you want the response to come across?ChatGPT can detect the tone of your prompts and respond accordingly. If you're writing a professional article, it's important to instill a formal and professional tone in your prompt.On the other hand, if you're writing a more casual article, an informal tone might be appropriate. Being aware of your tone and target audience can help you get better results from ChatGPT and ensure that your content is appropriate for your audience.You’ll notice that a cheeky way to inject tone into the response (as I did in tip #1) is to have Chat roleplay as a particular profession with varying degrees of experience in their field. Now, this doesn’t work all the time as some fields may be too specific and lack content that the GPT model would have been able to train from, so be wary of that when creating prompts using this strategy.Or hey, even something as simple as “Write me an ‘x’ with a professional tone for a ‘y’ audience” can often get the job done.
4. Nobody is Perfect – Neither is ChatGPT – Don’t Hold Back Additional Info:ChatGPT is an incredibly powerful model, but it's not perfect. The most common reasons for ChatGPT to return you with a response that is insufficient is usually one of two issues:ChatGPT either doesn’t have enough information from your prompt or its training.ChatGPT simply cannot reply to you because your prompt seeks something out-of-bounds (political) or subjective. In these cases, it's important to provide additional information or context to help ChatGPT understand what you're looking for. For instance, if you're looking for information on a particular topic, you may need to provide some background information or additional context to help ChatGPT understand what you're looking for.One workflow that I’ve actually done is to copy and paste all of a particular website’s information into a synthesized document and then shared that with the model by using a prompt such as this one:

Message 1: “learn the following information [copy and paste all the information you want ChatGPT to scan]”Message 2: “Summarize the information from my last message and give me the key takeaways.”

This process can be incredibly useful for summarizing long-winded emails, navigating a complex knowledge base, or even synthesizing key ideas from numerous sources.ChatGPT and other AI models are powerful tools that can help you achieve surprisingly great results. Whether you're looking to automate customer service or generate content, ChatGPT has a lot to offer. By being specific and clear in your prompts, using context to your advantage, being mindful of your tone, and providing additional information when needed, you can unlock the full potential of ChatGPT and get the best results possible.