prompt engineering

Likely coined in 2020 by AI researcher Gwern Branwen.^[1]

prompt engineering (uncountable)

1. (artificial intelligence, technology, neologism) The technique of formulating instructions (prompts) for a generative AI, in order that it produce the expected output.

   Synonyms: prompt crafting, prompt design

   • 2022, Denis Rothman, Antonio Gulli, Transformers for Natural Language Processing […] , Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 426:

     Practice prompt engineering and measure your progress in time. Prompt engineering is a new skill that will take you to the next level of AI.

   • 2023 February 8, Charlie Warzel, “The Most Important Job Skill of This Century”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     PromptBase’s sixth-most-popular seller, a prompt creator from Spain who goes by Imagineer, told me that prompt engineering is still a side hustle, having earned them just over 800 euros since September.

   • 2023 March 16, James Bridle, “The stupidity of AI”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     The latter skill has become known as “prompt engineering”: the technique of framing one’s instructions in terms most clearly understood by the system, so it returns the results that most closely match expectations – or perhaps exceed them.

   • 2023 May 29, Zohaib Ahmed, “Want to make the most of ChatGPT? Try these prompt engineering basics”, in Indian Express, Mumbai:

     Now that you’ve learnt the basics of prompt engineering, you should be able to use AI chatbots more efficiently and get the desired results.

• prompt crafting

• prompt engineer

• prompt engineering on Wikipedia.Wikipedia