2.2
What AI Actually Needs From You
Learn to recognise the difference at a glance.
What you'll leave with
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to identify the qualities that make a prompt weak or strong — and you'll start building the habit of writing better ones automatically.
Why this matters
A weak prompt is not a bad prompt because you did something wrong. It is a weak prompt because it is missing information AI needs to help you well.
Once you can see the difference, you cannot unsee it — and that awareness alone improves everything you do with AI.
The idea
Weak prompts share common features: they are short, they have no context, they do not specify a goal, and they leave the format entirely to AI.
Useful prompts share different features: they provide context about the situation, they specify the goal clearly, they give guidance on tone or format, and they mention constraints or things to avoid.
You do not need to write an essay. Even adding one or two of these elements moves the output from generic to genuinely useful.
The teaching block
Weak prompt markers:
- One sentence or less
- No context about situation or purpose
- No guidance on tone or format
- Could have been written by anyone about anything
Useful prompt markers:
- Context: who you are, what the situation is
- Goal: what you specifically need
- Tone: formal, casual, warm, direct, brief
- Constraints: what to avoid, what not to include
Example
Walk through three pairs of prompts — one weak, one strong — across different task types.
Email:
write a resignation letter
vs.
help me write a short, professional, gracious resignation letter to a manager I genuinely respect. I am leaving for a new opportunity. I want to leave on excellent terms and keep the relationship.
Planning:
plan a birthday party
vs.
help me plan a low-key birthday dinner for eight people at my house. Budget around $200 total. My friend loves Italian food and hates anything that feels over-planned or showy.
Learning:
explain inflation
vs.
explain inflation to me like I am a smart person who has never studied economics. Use one clear example and skip any jargon.
Try this now
Take the weak version of the prompt you saved in Lesson 2.1. Identify which of the four useful prompt markers it is missing.
Add just one of the missing elements. Notice how the output shifts. Then add another. You do not need to add all four every time — even one improvement matters.
Save this
You do not need to write an essay. Even adding one or two elements moves the output from generic to genuinely useful.
Quiet takeaway
Once you can see what makes a prompt weak or strong, the habit of writing better ones forms quickly. It becomes something you do automatically, not something you think about.
Next
You now know what makes a prompt weak or strong. In Lesson 2.3, you get a simple formula that makes strong prompts easy to write every time.