AI Prompt Engineering Absolute Beginner’s Guide

Michael Miller has written more than 200 non-fiction books over the past three decades. Collectively, his books have sold more than a million copies worldwide. His best-selling books for Que include My iPad for Seniors, My Video Chat for Seniors, My TV for Seniors, My Social Media for Seniors, My Facebook for Seniors, My Smart Home for Seniors, My Samsung Galaxy S7 for Seniors, Computer Basics: Absolute Beginner's Guide, and Easy Computer Basics.

• Introduction ....xvi1 Understanding Generative AI .....1What AI Is ........ 2How AI Works .. 2How Generative AI Differs from Predictive AI ... 4How People and Businesses Use AI ........ 5Today’s Most Popular AI Tools ...... 6How to Use an AI Tool .......... 9Summary .........112 What Is Prompt Engineering—and Why Is It Important? .........13What Is Prompt Engineering? .....14What Does Prompt Engineering Entail? ..........14Why Is Proper Prompt Design Important? .......15How to Turn a Bad Prompt into a Better Prompt .....18Summary .........193 The Anatomy of a Perfect Prompt .....21Crafting an Effective AI Prompt ..22Necessary Components of an AI Prompt ........22What Not to Include in a Prompt ..........26Putting It All Together .........27Summary .........324 Defining Output in Your Prompts.......33What Is Output Specification in an AI Prompt? .........34Why Is Output Specification Important? ..........34Types of Output to Specify 35Best Practices for Specifying Output ....38Summary .........385 Understanding and Comparing Different Prompting Strategies.......39Different Approaches to AI Prompting .40Comparing Prompting Strategies .........45Choosing the Right Prompting Strategy .........46Summary .........476 Using Zero-Shot Prompting ......49What Zero-Shot Prompting Is and How It Works .......50When to Use Zero-Shot Prompting .......50Crafting Effective Zero-Shot Prompts ....51Tips for Better Zero-Shot Prompting .....53Limitations of Zero-Shot Prompting ......53Summary .........547 Using One-Shot Prompting .......55What One-Shot Prompting Is and How It Works .......56When to Use One-Shot Prompting .......56How to Reference Examples in Prompts..........57Best Practices for Creating Effective One-Shot Prompts ...59Advanced One-Shot Prompting Strategies .....60Limitations of One-Shot Prompting .......60Summary .........628 Using Few-Shot Prompting .......63What Few-Shot Prompting Is and How It Works .......64When to Use Few-Shot Prompting ........64How to Craft a Few-Shot Prompt ..........65Best Practices for Effective Few-Shot Prompts ..........67Advanced Few-Shot Prompting Strategies......68Limitations of Few-Shot Prompting .......69Summary .........709 Using Role-Based Prompting ....71What Role-Based Prompting Is and How It Works ....72When to Use Role-Based Prompting.....73How to Craft a Role-Based Prompt .......73What Kinds of Roles Can You Have AI Assume? .......75Best Practices for Effective Role-Based Prompts .......81Advanced Role-Based Prompting Strategies ..81Limitations of Role-Based Prompting ....82Summary .........8310 Using Chain-of-Thought Prompting ....85What Chain-of-Thought Prompting Is and How It Works ..86When to Use Chain-of-Thought Prompting .....86How to Craft a Chain-of-Thought Prompt .......89Best Practices for Effective Chain-of-Thought Prompts .....90Advanced Chain-of-Thought Prompting Strategies ..90Limitations of Chain-of-Thought Prompting ....91Summary .........9211 Using Self-Consistency Prompting ......93What Self-Consistency Prompting Is and How It Works ....94When to Use Self-Consistency Prompting .......94How to Craft a Self-Consistency Prompt .........95Best Practices for Effective Self-Consistency Prompting ..100Advanced Self-Consistency Prompting Strategies...100Limitations of Self-Consistency Prompting ....101Summary .......10312 Using Prompt Chaining .. 105What Prompt Chaining Is and How It Works .106Benefits of Prompt Chaining .....106When to Use Prompt Chaining . .....107Examples of Prompt Chaining .. .....107Best Practices for Effective Prompt Chaining .....112Limitations of Prompt Chaining .....112Summary .......11313 Using Multimodal Prompts .... 115What Is Multimodal Prompting and How Does It Work? . .....116What Kinds of Files Can You Upload? .....118When to Use Multimodal Prompting .. .....119Examples of Multimodal Prompts ........119Best Practices for Multimodal Prompting ......120Limitations of Multimodal Prompting .. .....121Summary .......12214 Evaluating Prompt Performance ...... 123Why Prompt Evaluation Matters ..........124Defining Prompt Performance Metrics 125Simple Ways to Evaluate Prompt Performance ........127Advanced Prompt Evaluation ....128Best Practices for Prompt Evaluation ..129Common Pitfalls When Evaluating Prompt Performance.130Summary .......13015 Refining Your Prompts ... 131Why It’s Important to Refine Your Prompts ....132How Iterative Prompting Works 132How to Refine Your Prompts .....134Best Practices for Iterative Prompting .134Pitfalls When Iterative Prompting ........135Summary .......13516 Prompting for Writing.... 137Why Use AI for Writing .....138Discovering the Best AI Tools for Writing ......139Key Prompt Parameters for Writing .....140Examples of Prompts for Different Types of Writing ........141Best Practices for Writing with AI ........143Summary .......14417 Prompting for Productivity .... 145Three Principles of Productivity Prompting ...146Common Productivity Uses of AI ........147Writing and Communication .....147Marketing and Promotion ....149Planning and Organization ...150Education and Learning ........151Data Analysis and Research . .....152Decision-Making .....153Summary .......15418 Prompting for Image Generation .... 155Why Create Images with AI .......156Discovering the Best AI Tools for Image Generation .......157Key Parameters for Image Generation Prompts ......158Examples of Prompts for Generating Different Types of Images ..........159Best Practices for AI Image Generation .........165Summary .......16719 Prompting for Video Generation ..... 169Why Create Videos with AI .......170Discovering the Best AI Tools for Generating Videos ......170Key Parameters for Video Generation Prompts .......172Examples of Prompts for Generating Different Types of Videos ..........173Best Practices for AI Video Generation .........175Pitfalls Inherent in AI Video Generation.........176Summary .......17720 Prompting for Music Generation ..... 179Why Use AI to Generate Music. .....180Discovering the Best AI Tools for Creating Music ...180Key Parameters for Music Generation Prompts .......182Examples of Prompts to Generate Different Types of Music......184Creating Lyrics ........186Summary .......18821 Advanced Prompting Strategies and Tools ......... 189Advanced Prompt Engineering Techniques .. .....190Prompt Engineering Tools .....194Prompt Management and Optimization ...194Prompt Libraries and Repositories . .....196Summary .......19722 Prompting Responsibly .. 199What Is Responsible Prompting—and Why Is It Important? ......200Dealing with Bias in AI Prompting .......201Dealing with Ethical Issues in AI Prompting ..205Dealing with Legal Issues in AI Prompting ....207How to Responsibly Use AI-Generated Content .....209Summary .......20923 Troubleshooting Less-Effective Prompts ... 211How to Recognize Unhelpful or Hallucinated Responses .....212Common Characteristics of Ineffective Prompts ......213Step-by-Step Guide for Troubleshooting AI Prompts ......216Summary .......21824 Future Directions in AI and Prompt Engineering ........ 219The Future of AI ....220The Future of Prompt Engineering ......222Summary .......224A Prompt Templates .......... 225TOC, 11/18/2025, 9780135570463