Man, have you ever pulled your hair out trying to get actually smart answers from ChatGPT? I know I have! You tell it “Be an expert!” and it’s like… “Sure, here’s some confident nonsense!” 🤦♂️ So frustrating!
Well, someone on Reddit shared their journey through many fails to find a prompt that really makes ChatGPT teach like a true expert. It’s awesome stuff!
✨ The Big Oopsies in Prompting (Sound familiar?)
I’ve seen these a bunch, and the original poster nails why typical “expert” prompts fall flat:
- 📌 Just saying “you surpass any human expert” doesn’t magically make the AI smarter. If anything, it sets it up to confidently BS you!
- 💡 Real experts show their thinking, admit limitations, and discuss uncertainties and different viewpoints. Your prompt needs to encourage that depth!
- 🤔 Vague requests like “give me highly strategic, top 0.1% insights” aren’t helpful unless you clearly define what that actually means in your context.
- ✍️ You’re not telling the model what kind of output you want! Do you need a breakdown, a recommendation, a plan, or a debate? That detail matters A LOT.
⚙️ The Game-Changing Prompt Structure!
Okay, so after loads of trial and error, the poster found a stronger approach that gets way better, more grounded, and useful responses. This is pure gold, folks!
Here’s the kind of structure that works wonders:
You are an expert consultant in [TOPIC], with up-to-date knowledge of current research, best practices, and emerging trends.
Give a well-reasoned, multi-perspective analysis.
Be clear about assumptions, uncertainties, and where expert opinions may differ.
This is a game-changer because it asks for reasoned, nuanced answers, just like a real expert would provide! You get insights that are actually useful and realistic.
🛠️ Awesome Tool Alert!
And get this! The author actually built a super helpful tool called TeachMeToPrompt specifically to help you write these kinds of effective prompts. It helps you position the AI correctly, define your goals, and set clear expectations for what a “good” answer looks like. Sounds pretty neat, right? And it’s beginner-friendly too!
This is just my quick take, but if you’re tired of those vague, fluffy AI outputs, you’ve GOT to read the full Reddit post for all the details and the author’s own insights. It’s a really good one!
The only prompt that made ChatGPT teach me like a true expert after many fails
byu/speak2klein in