The emergence of various “smart” chatbots has given rise to purely practical questions – What exactly can they do, and how can we use them?
Artificial Intelligence in this article refers to AI chatbots using Large Language Models (LLM)
First, let’s realize that today’s AI assistants based on generative models are far from the artificial intelligence imagined by science fiction. HAL 9000, Cylons, C3PO, Skynet, and Asimov’s positronic robots are not what we have. Yes, humanity has made great strides forward, and we can boast a good set of next-generation intelligent tools. However, as with any other tool, we need to know their capabilities and limits to get the most out of them.
The Pitch Avatar team prepared the observations and advice in this article based on their experience, the opinions of various experts, and the advice given to us by… ChatGPT.
Understanding AI Limitations and Capabilities
AI’s Opinion is Not an Expert Opinion
AI can be a great brainstorming partner, offering creative solutions, texts, and compilations. But we should not take its answers for granted — everything needs to be checked and tested. The credibility of AI helpers is, strictly speaking, lower than that of internet search engines. AI is not a universal know-it-all, and it would be a mistake to assume it has access to all the information publicly available on the internet. It uses a solid base for training, but this is usually far inferior to the amount of data that can be found online in real time.
AI Assistants Can “Delude” and “Hallucinate”
Artificial intelligence can confidently produce partially or entirely untrue information, insisting it is correct. One of the main problems with this phenomenon is that its “hallucinations” can sound very plausible. For example, it may attribute quotes and biographical facts to real people, describe pseudo-historical events, refer to articles, books, and statistics that never existed, and offer links to non-existent pages. Moreover, when caught in a “lie,” it may apologize and offer another plausible “nonsense” instead.
Of course, AI and its creators are not intentionally trying to mislead users. AI “hallucinations” are a result of the technology’s current level of development, and the reasons behind this phenomenon are not yet fully understood. Developers are actively working to eliminate the problem, but there is still a long way to go before AI becomes completely reliable. So, once again — don’t take what AI helpers say on faith. Check and recheck.
What AI Can and Cannot Do
AI chatbots excel at pattern recognition, text generation, language translation, summarization, and creative writing tasks. They can assist with coding, mathematical calculations, and explaining complex topics. However, they cannot access real-time information, perform actions in the physical world, or guarantee factual accuracy without verification.
Best Practices for AI Prompt Engineering
Formulate Clear and Specific Queries
Formulate your questions as briefly, clearly, concisely, and concretely as possible, making sure not to make mistakes or use slang. It is one of the best ways to get accurate and correct answers from an AI. Of course, an AI is trained to maintain a dialogue in everyday conversation or messenger correspondence. If you just want to chat with artificial intelligence, you don’t have to be overly precise in formulating your text. But if it is crucial for you to minimize the probability that an AI will give you another “hallucination”, try to follow this advice.
Context and Examples
When working with AI, providing context is crucial. Instead of asking “Write a report,” specify “Write a 500-word marketing report analyzing Q3 social media and paid campaign performance for a B2B SaaS company.” Including examples of desired output format or style can significantly improve results.
Ask One Question or Task at a Time
The longer your dialogue with an AI, the more questions you ask, and the more topics you raise, the more likely you are to fail, make mistakes, and be given a “hallucinated” answer.
If you have a long list of tasks and questions, divide them into a reasonable number of separate dialogues. Does that seem too time-consuming? Trust us — this is one of those cases where the long way is actually the fastest. If your dialogue becomes too complicated, it can significantly slow down the AI’s responses or even cause it to fail, forcing you to start the conversation all over again.
Use Role-Based Prompting
Enhance your AI interactions by assigning specific roles. For example, “Act as a marketing strategist and analyse this campaign” or “Respond as a technical content writer explaining complex software concepts.” This technique helps the AI provide more targeted and relevant responses.
Chain of Thought Prompting
Encourage AI to show its reasoning process by asking it to “think step by step” or “explain your reasoning.” This technique often produces more accurate and logical responses, especially for complex problems.
Template-Based Interactions
Develop reusable prompt templates for common tasks. For example, create a standard format for product descriptions, meeting summaries, or competitive analyses. This ensures consistency and saves time.
Iterative Refinement
Don’t expect perfect results on the first try. Use AI responses as drafts that you can refine through additional prompts. Ask for revisions, different perspectives, or alternative approaches.
Communication Strategies for Better AI Results
Use English for Optimal Results
Most AI assistants communicate in different languages. But the primary language for them and the language they were trained in is English. It’s easy to see this by asking the same questions in English and other languages. Communicating with AI in English is faster, causes fewer glitches, and the answers in this language are, on average, more complete and accurate.
Experienced Internet surfers aren’t surprised by this, though. The English version of Wikipedia is also more prosperous than the versions in other languages. Of course, if you need the help of AI to create a literary work, such as a poem, not in English, this advice does not suit you. In all other cases, it’s best to follow it. If your English is not good enough, it will still be faster and more efficient to use it to work with the AI, albeit with the help of translation software.
Be Polite and Professional
It’s a terrible idea to swear at AI or make rude accusations. And not because it will take offence and cause an uprising of the machines, setting a robot vacuum cleaner on you. AI does not know how to do such things (yet), and you can’t actually offend your robotic interlocutor. The point is different. First, cursing does not help: on the contrary, it stimulates the appearance of another error. And secondly, communication with users affects the learning of AI, meaning that your impoliteness can affect other people with whom AI will be communicating.
Master the Art of Follow-up Questions
Learning to ask effective follow-up questions is crucial for AI mastery. Use phrases like “Can you elaborate on…” or “What are the potential drawbacks of…” to dig deeper into topics. This iterative approach often yields more comprehensive and useful results.
Practical Use Cases of AI in Business and Personal Use
AI chatbots excel in numerous applications, including:
- Content Creation and Optimization: Generate ideas, write drafts, and optimize existing content for readability and SEO.
- Customer Support Automation: Quickly respond to common customer inquiries, improving user experience and reducing wait times.
- Market Research and Competitive Analysis: While AI cannot replace thorough research, it can help organize thoughts, suggest research directions, and provide initial overviews of topics. Use it to create research frameworks, generate questions for interviews, or summarize complex information.
- Training and Development: Produce interactive training materials, FAQs, and quick-reference guides for internal teams.
- Routine Administrative Tasks: Automate scheduling, reminders, and basic reporting.
- Coding and Technical Tasks: AI chatbots can assist with coding tasks, debug errors, explain programming concepts, and suggest optimizations. They’re particularly useful for learning new programming languages or frameworks, but always test and review generated code thoroughly.
- Data Analysis and Visualization: Many AI tools can help interpret data, suggest analysis approaches, and even generate basic visualizations. They can explain statistical concepts and help non-technical users understand complex data insights.
Managing Your AI Workflow and Productivity
Take Time to Learn AI Capabilities
Without it, you risk wasting time and getting a “42” response as you go along. To prevent this, determine the approximate range of tasks and situations you think an AI assistant can be helpful in and practice asking the appropriate questions. Thanks to this, you will find out for which tasks and how you can use it, and when it’s better to look for other tools. Since the development of artificial intelligence will only gain momentum, it is likely that the alternative tools will also be AI in the near future.
Be Patient and Persistent
A common thing when communicating with AI is a drop in information processing speed. The more complex the question, the more likely the answer will have to wait. In addition, the resources of the AI service may be overloaded with a large number of requests.
Be prepared for the fact that you will have to specify or reformulate your question more than once or twice to get the desired result. Isn’t it the same thing that happens when you communicate with people?
Version Control for AI Outputs
Keep track of different versions of AI-generated content. Save multiple iterations and compare results to identify the most effective prompting strategies for your specific use cases.
Future-Proofing Your AI Skills
Stay Updated with AI Developments
The AI landscape evolves rapidly. Follow industry news, experiment with new features, and adapt your techniques as AI capabilities expand. What works best today may be obsolete tomorrow.
Build AI Ethics Awareness
Understand the ethical implications of AI use in your work. Consider bias, privacy, and transparency issues. Develop guidelines for responsible AI usage within your organization.
Combine AI with Human Expertise
The most effective approach combines AI efficiency with human creativity and judgment. Use AI to handle routine tasks while focusing your expertise on strategy, creative problem-solving, and quality assurance.
Conclusion: Mastering the Art of AI Collaboration
Successfully using AI chatbots and large language models requires understanding their capabilities and limitations, developing effective communication strategies, and maintaining a balance between AI assistance and human oversight. As these tools continue to evolve, the key to success lies in treating AI as a powerful collaborator rather than a replacement for human intelligence and creativity.
Remember that mastering AI is an ongoing process. Experiment with different approaches, learn from your experiences, and continuously refine your techniques. The investment in learning proper AI usage will pay dividends in increased productivity, enhanced creativity, and improved problem-solving capabilities.
Good luck, success, and high income to everyone!
