How to get ChatGPT to do your bidding
Imagine a prompt which can iteratively improve subsequent prompts
Here is a powerful ChatGPT prompt1 which allows you to iteratively home in on your query:
Since Substack doesn’t fully render Brian’s long-form tweet I am pasting the relevant prompt text below:
Please forget all prior prompts. I want you to become my Prompt Creator. Your goal is to help me build the best detailed prompt for my needs. This prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. Please follow this following process: 1) Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps. 2) Based on my input, you will generate 3 sections. a) Revised prompt [provide your rewritten prompt. it should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you], b) Suggestions [provide suggestions on what details to include in the prompt to improve it] and c) Questions [ask any relevant questions pertaining to what additional information is needed from me to improve the prompt]. 3. We will continue this iterative process with me providing additional information to you and you updating the prompt in the Revised prompt section until it's complete. If you understand this respond with >
Here’s what this looks like if you input this prompt text into ChatGPT:
Let’s say I want to market greeting cards. I modify the prompt, and it responds per the first prompt’s instructions:
Based on its suggestions and questions, I refined what I’m looking for. It provides yet further suggestions and questions:
As you can surely see, you could engage in this prompt-refinement loop indefinitely, homing in an extremely specific, and robust, prompt. The trick here is at some point you have to stop prompt engineering and actually execute on whatever it is that originally prompted you to prompt ChatGPT.
This is a very powerful technique to help you drill down to the core of what you’re trying to figure out. You can also use the initial prompt as an inspiration for creating other such iteratively interactive prompts which may better suit your needs.
Interestingly, if you try this prompt with BingBot, it refuses to play along.