Anthropic's New Tool Will Write Better Prompts For You

Anthropic's New Tool Will Write Better Prompts For You

Anthropic has launched a new prompt generation tool in their Console, that aims to simplify the process of creating effective prompts for their AI model, Claude. This feature (which evolved from their previously released experimental helper metaprompt) is designed to guide users in generating high-quality prompts tailored to their specific tasks, addressing the "blank page problem" and providing a starting point for testing and iteration.

Prompt design is the process of creating instructions that are interpreted by LLMs to generate the ideal desired response/output. These prompts are usually carefully crafted to include specific words, instructions, context, input data, and examples. For now, given how little we know about how LLMs make decisions, it is both a science and an art—requiring creativity, intuition, and a deep understanding of language, psychology and communication.

Prompt design is a hot topic in the world of AI, with some hailing it as the key to unlocking the full potential of LLMs. But recent research suggests that this specialised role may be short-lived as AI systems themselves become better at crafting prompts.

Research by Rick Battle and Teja Gollapudi of VMware found that in most cases, prompts automatically generated by the AI model performed better than those crafted by humans, and in a fraction of the time. The optimal prompts generated by the AI were often bizarre combinations of words and references that no human was likely to have assembled. For example, a prompt about guiding a spaceship through turbulence, inspired by Star Trek, helped an LLM perform better on grade-school math questions.

Anthropic's prompt generator incorporates best practices such as chain-of-thought reasoning and separating data from instructions. It joins other solutions like their prompt library, which offers a wide range of pre-written prompts (including user-submitted ones) for various tasks and use cases, covering both work and play.

Anthropic's prompt generator has already proven successful for companies like ZoomInfo, who use Claude to make actionable recommendations and drive customer value. By using the prompt generator, ZoomInfo significantly reduced the time required to build an MVP of their RAG application while simultaneously improving output quality.

The prompt generator also supports dynamic variable insertion, enabling users to easily test how their prompts perform across various scenarios. This feature streamlines the prompt engineering process, making it more efficient and effective.

For those interested in exploring the underlying prompt and architecture, Anthropic has made a Google Colab notebook available (API key required).

Chris McKay is the founder and chief editor of Maginative. His thought leadership in AI literacy and strategic AI adoption has been recognized by top academic institutions, media, and global brands.

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