How to write a good AI prompt
Here is the thing nobody tells you when you start using AI tools.
The tool is only as good as the instruction you give it.
A vague prompt gets a vague answer. A specific, well-structured prompt gets something genuinely useful. Learning to write good prompts is the whole skill — and it takes about twenty minutes to get significantly better at it.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
What is a prompt?
A prompt is simply the instruction you type into an AI tool. It can be a question, a request, or a task description. The AI reads it and responds.
That’s all there is to it technically. The art is in writing prompts that get you what you actually need.
The difference between a weak prompt and a strong one
Weak prompt
“Write me an email.”
What you get: something generic and unusable.
Strong prompt
“Write a professional email to a client explaining that their project will be delayed by two weeks due to a supplier issue. Tone should be apologetic but confident. Include a revised timeline and offer a brief call to discuss. Keep it under 200 words.”
What you get: something you can actually use with minor edits.
The difference is specificity. The more context you give, the better the output.
Four things that make a prompt stronger
Say what format you want
"Write a bullet point summary" gets you something different from "write a short paragraph." Tell the AI what shape the output should take.
Say who the audience is
"Write this for a senior leadership team who are sceptical about the budget" gives the AI crucial context. It writes differently for different audiences.
Say what tone you want
Professional. Warm. Direct. Formal. Concise. These words make a real difference to what comes back.
Give it a role
"Act as a sceptical finance director and tell me the three weakest parts of this proposal" gets you sharper feedback than "what's wrong with this?"
When the first answer isn’t good enough
Ask again. Refine it.
"Make this shorter."
"Make the tone less formal."
"The third paragraph isn't right — rewrite it to be more direct."
AI tools are not search engines. You get more out of them when you treat the conversation as exactly that — a conversation.
One prompt worth trying today
Open any AI tool — Copilot, ChatGPT, or Claude. Type this:
“I need to write a progress update on [your project] for [your audience]. Keep it to one paragraph. Professional tone. Focus on what’s been achieved and what’s coming next.”
Replace the brackets with your details. See what comes back. Edit it. Send it.
That’s prompting. You just did it.
— Anna