Prompt Engineering Guide
πŸ˜ƒ Basics
πŸ’Ό Applications
πŸ§™β€β™‚οΈ Intermediate
🧠 Advanced
Special Topics
βš–οΈ Reliability
πŸ”“ Prompt Hacking
πŸ–ΌοΈ Image Prompting
🌱 New Techniques
πŸ”§ Models
πŸ—‚οΈ RAG
πŸ€– Agents
πŸ’ͺ Prompt Tuning
πŸ” Language Model Inversion
πŸ”¨ Tooling
πŸ“™ Vocabulary Resource
🎲 Miscellaneous
πŸ“š Bibliography
πŸ“¦ Prompted Products
πŸ›Έ Additional Resources
πŸ”₯ Hot Topics
✨ Credits

Welcome to the Basics Guide to Generative AI and Prompt Engineering!

🟒 This article is rated easy
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Last updated on March 6th, 2025

Valeriia Kuka

If you're new to Generative AI and Prompt Engineering and want to grasp the core concepts, you're in the right place.


What You'll Learn from This Guide

This guide introduces prompt engineering, a fundamental skill for working with generative AI models and chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Cohere Chat, Claude, and more. By the end of this guide, you'll have a clear understanding of how to work with AI tools, their limitations, and several key prompting techniques that will help you maximize the potential of these tools in your daily tasks.

The guide provides a non-technical introduction to Generative AI (GenAI), covering prompting strategies, popular GenAI tools, and practical ways to integrate GenAI into your everyday life. Whether you're a complete beginner or someone looking to enhance your skills, this guide will help you get started quickly. As you progress, the subsequent modules will deepen your knowledge and refine your prompting techniques for various AI use cases.

Below is a summary of the key topics covered in this guide. Click on any section to jump directly to that topic.

Key Sections of the Guide

  • Introduction to AI: A brief introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI, explaining how these systems work and their impact.

  • Getting Started with ChatGPT: Learn how to set up and use ChatGPT for various tasks, from simple queries to advanced functions like summarizing text and solving problems.

  • Learn Prompting Embeds: An interactive tool that allows you to experiment with different prompts directly on the Learn Prompting website to improve your prompting skills.

  • Prompt Engineering: Discover the fundamentals of prompt engineering, a critical skill for working with generative AI models like ChatGPT and DALL-E, and learn how to craft effective prompts.

  • How to Write an Effective Prompt?: A practical guide with tips and techniques to improve the quality of your AI's responses, whether you're writing, coding, or generating images.

  • Giving Instructions: This guide dives into instruction prompting, explaining how to provide clear, concise instructions to get the desired output from generative AI models.

  • Assigning Roles: Learn how to use role prompting to assign specific roles to AI models, helping you control the tone, style, and accuracy of the generated content for various tasks.

  • Shot-Based Prompting: Explore zero-shot, one-shot, and few-shot prompting techniques. Learn how providing examples to the AI can improve accuracy, along with real-world applications of each method.

  • Parts of a Prompt: A detailed breakdown of the key components of a prompt, including examples and tips to help you structure your prompts for optimal results.

  • Combining Techniques: Discover how to combine different prompting techniques, such as context, instructions, and examples, to enhance the AI model's ability to handle more complex tasks.

  • Chatbots vs. LLMs: Learn the key differences between chatbots and large language models (LLMs), exploring why chatbots are often the preferred interface for interacting with LLMs.

  • Priming Prompt: Priming chatbots involves structuring prompts to guide the chatbot’s responses. Learn how to use this technique to influence the behavior and output of chatbots for specific goals.

  • Limitations of LLMs: While LLMs are powerful, they have limitations. This document covers common challenges like hallucinations, biases, and prompt hacking, and offers strategies to work around them.

  • Beyond LLMs: Generative AI Applications Beyond Text Data: Explore the full range of generative AI capabilities beyond text generation, including image, audio, and video creation, and how these applications are shaping industries.

  • Problem Solving with GenAI: Learn the Learn Prompting Method, a structured approach to problem-solving using generative AI, from identifying the right tools to refining prompts through testing.

  • Moving Forward: Beyond the Basics: A sneak peek into advanced prompt engineering techniques and applications that will help you deepen your skills and expertise as you move beyond the basics.

Happy learning!

Valeriia Kuka

Valeriia Kuka, Head of Content at Learn Prompting, is passionate about making AI and ML accessible. Valeriia previously grew a 60K+ follower AI-focused social media account, earning reposts from Stanford NLP, Amazon Research, Hugging Face, and AI researchers. She has also worked with AI/ML newsletters and global communities with 100K+ members and authored clear and concise explainers and historical articles.

🟒 Tips for Writing Better Prompts

🟒 Next Steps

🟒 Differences Between Chatbots and LLMs

🟒 ChatGPT Basics

🟒 Combining Prompting Techniques

🟒 Testing Prompts with Interactive Learn Prompting Embeds

🟒 Technique #3

🟒 What is Generative AI?

🟒 What Can Generative AI Create Beyond Text?

🟒 Technique #1

🟒 How to Solve Problems Using Generative AI

🟒 LLM Limitations

🟒 Prompt Priming

🟒 Introduction to Prompt Engineering

🟒 Basic Prompt Structure and Key Parts

🟒 Technique #2