AI Insights: To Prompt Well, You Must Know How to Write Well

Right now, the comforting story being told about AI is that great writing is finally available to everyone.

The reality is less flattering, and more interesting.

After experimenting extensively with AI for my book, The Alchemy of Prompting, I've learned that these machines can rarely create quality out of nothing.

In fact, their output typically only mirrors the depth, clarity, judgment, and taste of the person guiding it.

That's because good writing depends on things a writer must decide, including what matters, what sounds pleasing to the ear, what needs to be emphasised, when a sentence has said enough, and what should be left unstated.

Such judgements require an understanding of literary qualities such as structure, tone, rhythm, and intent.

That explains why the AI-assisted content of those who lack an understanding of writing craft tends to be so sterile and predictable.

And it's why I eventually reached the hard conclusion, while writing my book, that to prompt well, one must first know how to write well.

There is, in fact, no other way to guide these machines to produce quality prose, nor to evaluate their output, which is a message, I hope, that will both reassure and inspire writers fearful of AI's impact.

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AI Insights: To Prompt Well, You Must Know How to Write Well