GenAI

What can GenAI help me with?

While Large Language Models (LLM) (such as Copilot) can provide valuable assistance, they are no replacement for human guidance and support. 

Further, there are reliability and ethical issues surrounding these models and their outputs which are explained on subsequent pages of this guide. Always evaluate the information in front of you. GenAI tools have no truth filter!

Copilot can help with the following:

• explain or define terms, concepts and topics
• summarise information or find key points
• proofread for grammatical and spelling errors
• create practice quiz questions
• create practice interview questions
• brainstorm new projects
• evaluate mathematical problems, computer code and formulas

In order to get useful results, you will need to build the right questions and set parameters for the reply or dialogue you are seeking. This concept is also called prompting, prompt design or prompt engineering.

How to prompt GenAI tools

Knowing how a Large Language Model (LLM) (like Copilot) works can be useful for creating prompts and understanding its limitations. LLMs use their vast amounts of training data to try and predict words. These predictions are based on learnt patterns and content around words. In the examples below, the words 'colourful' and 'garden' in the prompt help Copilot predict the missing word. You could almost think of it as a very sophisticated autocomplete. If confronted with fewer patterns or content in the prompt, the output is less specific.

The examples above demonstrate that the prompt you enter will influence the reply you will get. 

What makes a good prompt?

A good prompt generates basic text that needs tweaking; a great prompt is specific and useful to the user. Great prompts have some or all of the following elements:

• Give the AI a persona. 
• Be specific, clear, and concise. Define what you are looking for.
• Provide content and avoid ambiguity. Open-ended prompts are not narrow enough to generate a meaningful response. 
• Provide specific constraints, such as a target length or tone, to guide the model's response.  
• Make it conversational and use complete sentences. 
• Additionally, a good prompt should have a clear and achievable goal that the model can work towards.

Try the following two prompts in Copilot and see the difference: 

• What are some ideas for a birthday party? 
• You are a high-end birthday planner. Plan a birthday party for a five-year-old girl with a budget of $5,000. Her favourite colour is pink and she likes dinosaurs. There will be 20 guests of the same age and the party will be held outside in May in Brisbane, Australia. 

(by QUT, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA)

The CRAFT Method of Prompt Engineering

The CRAFT method is one of many approaches to prompt engineering designed to help you create effective prompts.

The acronym CRAFT stands for:

• Context: Provide clear context and specify the role, so the AI tool can generate concise and focused content that directly addresses the proposal’s requirements.
• Role: Define the AI’s role to help generate content that aligns with the expertise needed for the proposal.
• Action: Specify the action to ensure that the AI tool provides the exact type of information needed; do you need a summary, analysis, a list, or something else?
• Formatting: Indicate the format to help create well-structured and easily digestible content.
• Target Audience: Think about who the audience is for the response.

By focusing on these five components, the CRAFT method ensures that your prompts are clear, relevant, and tailored to your specific needs, leading to more accurate and contextually appropriate responses.

Prompting: Getting the best out of GenAI

Watch the video below by SCU Librarians to learn how to effectively prompt GenAI tools for your assessment and studies.

Prompting examples

• I'm a first year Physics student. Tell me in simple terms how the 'Theory of Relativity' works. Use no more than 100 words.
• Create a 10 question quiz about the 'Theory of Relativity'. Provide feedback for my answers after each question/answer.
• Act as a speech pathologist. Provide an assessment of a three year old child based on the speech sample: "Mummy get in ka." Structure it in 5 paragraphs with titles and make it no longer than 500 words. Add a parent friendly summary paragraph at the end. 
• Summarise in one sentence: [paste text]. / Summarise in one sentence preserving information about dates / people / locations.