The Art of Prompt Engineering: Getting the Right Results with the Right Prompts

Delve into the art of prompt engineering, exploring various types of prompts and discovering the do's and don'ts of effective prompting.

- By: Dr Magesh Kasthuri and Dr Anand Nayyar

Prompt engineering is a critical aspect of working with artificial intelligence models, particularly in the realm of natural language processing.

Crafting the right prompts can significantly influence the quality and accuracy of the results generated by AI models.

Let's begin by understanding the different types of prompts that can be used for effective prompt engineering.

Zero-shot prompting

Zero-shot prompting involves giving the model a task without any prior examples. The model must rely solely on its training data to generate a response and is given a task without any examples. It relies entirely on its pre-trained knowledge to respond.

Example: Travel planner

Prompt: “Plan a 5-day itinerary for a solo traveller visiting Kyoto, Japan.”

Here, the model is expected to understand the task and generate a travel plan without being shown any sample itineraries. It draws on its general knowledge of travel planning and Kyoto's attractions.

Zero-shot prompting is useful when you seek a straightforward answer or when the task is simple and well within the model's training domain.

One-shot prompting

One-shot prompting provides the model with a single example to guide its response. This helps the model understand the task better and produce more accurate results.

Example: Document search

Prompt: “If I ask for a document summary, respond like this: 'Title: AI in Healthcare. Summary: This document explores the integration of AI technologies in clinical diagnostics and patient care.' Now, summarise the document titled 'Blockchain in Finance'.”

This model uses one example to understand the format and tone expected in the summary. One-shot prompting is beneficial for slightly more complex tasks where a single example can significantly enhance the model’s performance.

Few-shot prompting