🧠🍹AIperitivo #3 (ENG) – Prompt Engineering
How to talk to AI and get genuinely useful results
"AI doesn’t understand me." "The answers are too generic." "I asked for one thing, and got something completely different..."
👉 It happens a lot. But it’s not the AI’s fault. It’s the prompt.
What’s a prompt?
A prompt is the instruction or question you give to an AI system. It’s how you “talk” to it.
And just like any conversation, the quality of the response depends on how you ask.
Prompt Engineering: no code required
Prompt engineering isn’t about programming. It’s a mix of:
clear writing
critical thinking
knowing how to guide a system that doesn’t understand, but executes
It means crafting smart input so you can get useful output.
Basic principles
1. Be specific
Don’t just say:
“Write a motivational text”
Instead, try:
“Write a 3-paragraph motivational piece in an informal tone, addressed to university students preparing for final exams.”
2. Provide context
“Act as a project manager with experience in digital transformation…”
The AI doesn’t know who you are or what you want — unless you tell it.
3. Ask in stages
Instead of a vague prompt, try:
“Start with one idea. Then give me 3 different alternatives. Then help me choose the best fit.”
4. Set the tone and style
“Write in a professional but empathetic tone.” “Include concrete examples.” “Make the text suitable for LinkedIn.”
Is there a framework to structure prompts?
Yes. One of the simplest and most effective is called CRAFT:
C – Context: What’s the situation? What background does the AI need?
R – Role: Who should the AI “pretend” to be? (a coach, an expert, a teacher…)
A – Audience: Who will read the output?
F – Format: What form should the output take? (email, list, script, summary…)
T – Task: What’s the exact task?
🧩Example of a CRAFT-based prompt:
“You’re a career coach (Role). You’re talking to a 50-year-old manager who wants to transition into the digital world (Context). Create 5 discovery questions for a first session (Task), in a professional but empathetic tone (Format + Audience).”
👉 Clear structure = better results.
Work smarter with ChatGPT projects
If you use ChatGPT Projects (available for Plus users), you can organize your AI interactions by topic.
You can:
upload documents
ask follow-up questions
maintain long-term context
instruct the AI to remember your tone, goals, or constraints
This turns ChatGPT into a dedicated assistant for each area of work.
🧩Real example:
You're creating a report on AI in Banking. You create a project called "AI in Banking", upload PDFs, slides, and notes. Then you ask:
“Summarize the top 3 trends from document X and relate them to the stats in report Y. Limit to 300 words in executive summary style.”
The AI will reply based on the documents and prior interactions within that project.
📌 It’s especially useful for research, writing, product development, or client work.
Yes, you can generate images — with the right words
Prompt Engineering also applies to image and video generation.
Tools like:
DALL·E (OpenAI)
Midjourney
Stable Diffusion
Sora (OpenAI’s video generation tool, in preview)
…can generate incredible visuals — if your prompt is detailed and descriptive.
Visual prompt example:
Basic prompt:
“Dog running in the park”
Improved prompt:
“Golden retriever running through a city park at sunset, autumn leaves flying, background in Studio Ghibli style, cinematic perspective”
Same concept, but a much more powerful and beautiful image.
📌 Weekly practice exercise
Creative exercise:
“Act as a Jedi Master convincing a modern marketing team to stop using PowerPoint.”
Notice the tone, creativity, and narrative structure.
💼 Practical exercise:
“Pretend you're a career coach. I’m 45, working in banking, and considering a shift into digital. Ask me 3 reflective questions to guide my thinking.”
👉 Great way to see how AI can support critical thinking — without replacing it.
🥂 AIperitivo – One post per week
One topic. No jargon. No hype. Just clarity and action.
Next week: There’s more than ChatGPT: meet the other types of AI. And 3 Apps you absolutely need (for free!)
💬 What about you?
Have you ever written a prompt that worked perfectly — or failed hilariously?
Drop it in the comments 👇