Prompt
Level 1
The instruction and information you give a model.
Term 3 of 8 in Language models
In plain language
A prompt is everything the model receives: your question, plus any background the product added behind the scenes. The clearer and more specific the prompt, the better the answer usually is.
Think of it like this
A prompt is a brief. A vague brief gets you a vague deliverable, exactly like with a human contractor.
Why it matters
Prompting is the highest-leverage skill for a beginner. Most disappointing AI answers come from an underspecified prompt.
Next terms in Language models
- Large language modelA model trained on enormous amounts of text to predict what words come next.
- TokenA small chunk of text that a model reads and writes, usually part of a word.
- Context windowThe maximum amount of text a model can consider at one time.
- TemperatureA setting that controls how predictable or varied a model's output is.