Knowledge Maxxing← Back to topic library
AI MaxxingBeginner60 sec
Prompt
A prompt is the text input a user provides to instruct a language model on what task to perform or what to generate.
Prerequisite: Model input
What matters
The wording, examples, and constraints included in a prompt directly shape the model's output, since the model has no other source of instruction for that request.
Example
'Summarize this article in three bullet points' is a prompt that tells the model both the task and the desired output format.
Common misconception
A vague prompt does not force the model to ask a clarifying question; it will usually just guess an interpretation and answer.
Recall question
Why do two differently worded prompts about the same topic often produce different answers?
Keywords and related concepts
promptinstructionsuser inputsystem prompt