What is a "prompt" anyway?

11/09/2025

This is what AI sees when I asked, "What is a prompt?"

A prompt is basically a conversation with AI. You type words, it responds, and you go back and forth until it gives you something worthwhile.

That is what makes this moment in technology so amazing. Until now, computers only worked through code. Programmers had to spell out instructions line by line, in a strict language the machine could understand. If you missed a semicolon, the program broke.

AI changes this. It speaks our language. You do not need to know Python or Java. You can say, “Write me a polite email,” and it will.

But here is the catch: while AI can understand human language, it still needs the conversation to be logically structured. If you are vague, AI will get confused. If you are clear, it delivers.

Think of it as a dialogue where you are always in charge. The AI is capable, flexible, and fast, but it cannot read your mind. Your prompts give it direction, like a map that tells it where you want to go.

What Makes a Prompt a Good Prompt?

A good prompt is not about length or special wordings. It is about being clear and unambiguous.

In Australia, if you ask someone, “How far is it to the nearest train station?” they might say, “Oh… not far.”

Or if you ask, “How long does it take to get from here to the city?” the reply might be, “About an hour.”

Humans understand those answers because we fill in the blanks with shared assumptions:

“Not far” usually means a short walk or drive. It's manageable.
“About an hour” makes sense because we know it depends on speed, traffic, and stops.

But AI does not work this way. It does not share our assumptions.

Even your GPS will not just say “about an hour.” It calculates the distance, route, and traffic conditions before providing you with a specific number. AI needs that same level of clarity.

That is why a good prompt does not assume. It gives enough detail for AI to act on.

Prompt Example

Bad: “How long will it take me to get to the city?”
Better: “How long will it take to drive from Glenelg to Adelaide CBD right now?”
Even Better: “How long will it take to drive from Glenelg to Adelaide CBD on a weekday morning at 8 a.m., assuming average traffic conditions?”

Takeaway: The less you assume, the more useful the AI becomes.

How to Structure Your Prompts

If a prompt is a conversation, then structure is what keeps that conversation clear. Without it, your AI responses can wander off in directions you least expected.

A simple way to think about structure is to ask yourself four questions:

Who is this for? (a student, a manager, a small business owner)
What do you want? (a summary, a plan, a list of ideas)
How should it look? (bullets, essay, email, dialogue)
Why does it matter? (to persuade, to save time, to explain)

Even if you only include two or three of these, your prompt will already be sharper.

The CAST Framework

To make this easier, I often shared a starting framework called CAST:

C – Context: What is the background or situation?

A – Audience: Who is it for?

S – Structure: What format should it take?

T – Tone: How should it sound?

Example of CAST in action:

Bad: “Write about AI in marketing.”
Better (adding Context and Audience): “Explain how AI can help small business owners with marketing.”
Even Better (full CAST): “Write a friendly LinkedIn post (Structure + Tone), encouraging small business owners (Audience) to try AI tools that save time in marketing (Context). Keep it under 150 words.”

Takeaway: The more you guide the conversation with structure, the more likely the AI will give you the kind of answer you actually want.

If the Output Is Not What You Expected

Many people treat AI the same way they treat Google: type a question once, and expect the perfect (most relevant) answer to appear.

This habit comes from years of using search engines. With Google, “ask and you shall receive” usually works, because it simply finds what already exists. It retrieves. AI does something very different. It is not retrieving pre-written answers; it is generating (creating) responses based on patterns in language.

This is why iteration is the foundation for effective AI use.

Think of it as chatting rather than searching. You do not stop talking to a friend after one question. You clarify, you ask again, you give more detail. You prompt. The same applies here.

Example: Iterating a Prompt

Goal: Write a short email to invite people to a community event.

Prompt 1: “Write an email inviting people to an event.” → Generic, formal, no details.
Prompt 2: “Make it about a free outdoor concert this Saturday evening.” → Mentions a concert, but it is stiff and wordy.
Prompt 3: “Make it friendly and conversational. Keep it under 150 words.” → Better tone, missing location.
Prompt 4: “Add the location: Riverfront Park, 6 p.m. Include that people can bring picnic blankets.” → Specific and inviting.
Prompt 5: “Add a short closing line: ‘See you there!’” → Clear, warm, and concise invitation.

Takeaway: One-shot prompts do not unlock the full potential of AI. Iterating by asking, refining, and reshaping is where the real power lies.

The Limits of AI and the Vastness of Humans

AI is astonishingly powerful, but it is not limitless. It has been trained on billions of words and patterns, yet it does not know anything the way humans do. It has no awareness, no lived experience, no understanding of meaning. All it does is predict the next most likely word or phrase based on its training data.

That means there will always be gaps, unique cases, or entirely new ideas that it has never seen before.

And that is not a weakness. In fact, it reveals something profound: the endless range of human imagination and creativity. AI can remix, combine, and accelerate what it has learned, but it still depends on us for the spark of originality, the leap of intuition, the creativity that breaks patterns rather than repeats them.

Conclusion

So here is the big picture:

A prompt is how you talk to AI.
A good prompt avoids assumptions and gives clear direction.
Structure (such as the CAST framework) helps guide the conversation.
Iteration is the very foundation of working well with AI.
AI does not know in the way humans know. Its limits are reminders of the vastness of human creativity.

When you see prompting this way, the mystery falls away. It is not hard. It is not magic. It is a conversation that anyone can learn to guide.

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