Prompting 101

@hao CC BY 4.0

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPbXH0LpIE

  • Introduction to Prompt Engineering (0:00)

  • Overview of prompt engineering and its importance in communicating with language models

  • Explanation of prompt writing as an iterative and empirical process

  • Introduction of a real-world-inspired scenario involving image analysis and factual information extraction

  • Setting the Scenario: Swedish Insurance Company (2:00)

  • Explanation of the task: analyzing a car accident report form and a human-drawn sketch

  • Initial attempt to use a simple prompt leading to incorrect assumptions by Claude

  • Iterative Improvement of the Prompt (5:00)

  • Discussion on the importance of specifying task context and tone

  • Improvements made to the prompt to make Claude understand the task as related to car accidents rather than skiing accidents

  • Structuring and Detailing the Prompt (8:00)

  • Explanation of the importance of providing background details and structured data in prompts

  • Use of XML tags and markdown to organize information and improve Claude's comprehension

  • Incorporating Examples and Conversation History (10:00)

  • Importance of including examples and conversation history to improve prompt effectiveness

  • Explanation of how examples can guide Claude's understanding and decision-making

  • Finalizing the Prompt with Task Reminders (13:00)

  • Adding reminders to prevent hallucinations and ensure Claude only provides confident answers

  • Detailed instructions on how to analyze the form and sketch in a logical order

  • Output Formatting and Pre-filled Responses (15:00)

  • Importance of specifying output format for easy integration with applications or databases

  • Use of pre-filled responses for structured output, like JSON or XML

  • Extended Thinking and Wrap-up (18:00)

  • Introduction of Claude's extended thinking feature for deeper reasoning

  • Encouragement to analyze Claude's reasoning process for improvements in prompt engineering

  • Conclusion and Further Resources (21:00)

  • Invitation for attendees to ask questions and participate in future sessions

  • Mention of additional resources and upcoming demos for further learning on prompting techniques