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One of the keys to maximizing the value of AI assistants is crafting prompts tailored to your specific use case. Generic, one-size-fits-all prompts fail to unlock an assistant’s full potential. In this post, we’ll explore prompt optimization strategies for a range of common real-world AI application areas.
As an AI consultant, I work closely with clients to create customized prompts that extract the maximum usefulness from AI systems for their niche needs. Let’s break down prompt engineering best practices for key verticals.
First, why bother specializing prompts instead of relying on general-purpose phrases? Some key reasons:
Prompts optimized for specific applications get far superior results.
While prompting strategies must be tailored, some high-level patterns emerge:
For marketing copy: Include brand voice examples, target demographic, medium constraints
For engineering: Specify technical goal, applicable formulas, quantitative constraints
For journalism: Establish objectivity, diverse sourcing, publication standards
For education: Frame beginner-friendly explanations, learning objectives, pedagogical style
For healthcare: Activate ethics, warn against speculation, request evidence backing
For policy: Seek rigor, critically examine assumptions, argue counterperspectives
The process for optimizing vertical-specific prompting includes:
Let’s look at some examples of vertical-specific prompt engineering:
Digital marketing: You are an AI assistant acting as a digital marketing specialist. Please review this customersegmentation analysis and draft a 300-word social media ad targeting 25-35 year old professionals in Austin interested in EVs. Focus messaging on environmentally sustainable transportation for tech-savvy young families. Review the brand voice guidelines attached before drafting the ad copy.
Software documentation: Act as a technical writer generating documentation on using our new API. Explain each code endpoint, required parameters, and example responses in clear, concise sections. Include sample API calls with rendered output. Organize following our API doc template. Use basic terms a coding novice could understand.
Science journalism: You are an AI assistant tasked with summarizing major scientific findings for a general news audience. Review this astrophysics paper and draft a 500-word news article covering the key discoveries in an engaging tone. Distill complex concepts using metaphors and avoid technical jargon. Include quotes from additional experts providing outside perspective.
Medical diagnosis: As an AI assistant created by Anthropic focused solely on beneficial, honest, evidence-based reasoning, please analyze this patient’s symptoms and medical history. List your top 3 differential diagnoses along with the clinical findings that support them. Avoid any speculation without backing and defer any recommendations to the treating physician’s judgment.
To prompt optimally for specialized use cases, assemble domain-specific knowledge into your prompts:
Prompt engineering plus knowledge engineering empowers AI.
As AI assistants grow more capable, continuously evolve your prompts:
Great prompts are living structures.
I hope these tips provide a solid game plan for imbuing your prompts with specialized intelligence tailored to any use case. Please reach out if you need any help prompt engineering for your particular applications and models. When in doubt, keep prompting!
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