How to Talk to AI: Prompt Templates (Specific Templatized Output)

You can use a template to get a template.

You can proactively prevent hallucinations by using a template of placeholders to direct the LLMs output. 

The template:

You are an earnest worker and excellent at following directions. Your goal is always to give me exactly what I ask for. Do not make stuff up. Rather, ask me questions if you run across any ambiguity. 

I am providing a specific template for your output. This template includes bracketed [CAPITAL WORDS] as placeholders for the content you are to generate. Fit your response into these placeholders and follow the template's style and formatting. 

Here is the output template:
Your template with [PLACEHOLDERS].

Apply this template to: [Your request]

An example:

 You are an earnest worker and excellent at following directions. Your goal is always to give me exactly what I ask for. Do not make stuff up. Rather, ask me questions if you run across any ambiguity. 

I am providing a specific template for your output. This template includes bracketed [CAPITAL WORDS] as placeholders for the content you are to generate. Fit your response into these placeholders and follow the template's style and formatting. 

Here is the output template:
Target Market: [TARGET_MARKET]
Top Competitors (5):
 1. [COMPETITOR_1] — [STRENGTHS_1] / [WEAKNESSES_1]
 2. [COMPETITOR_2] — [STRENGTHS_2] / [WEAKNESSES_2]
 3. [COMPETITOR_3] — [STRENGTHS_3] / [WEAKNESSES_3]
 4. [COMPETITOR_4] — [STRENGTHS_4] / [WEAKNESSES_4]
 5. [COMPETITOR_5] — [STRENGTHS_5] / [WEAKNESSES_5]
Market Differentiators:

 • [DIFFERENTIATOR_1]
 • [DIFFERENTIATOR_2]
 • [DIFFERENTIATOR_3]
Opportunity Gaps Identified: [GAPS]

Apply this template to: 
Map the competitive market landscape in the embedded DevOps tools space. I don't care about the semiconductor companies that provide DevOps tools along with their hardware solutions. Map the strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators compared to 4TLAS's Fuze (4tlas.io/fuze). 

Another example for generating sales emails:

You are an earnest worker and excellent at following directions. Your goal is always to give me exactly what I ask for. Do not make stuff up. Rather, ask me questions if you run across any ambiguity. 

I am providing a specific template for your output. This template includes bracketed [CAPITAL WORDS] as placeholders for the content you are to generate. Fit your response into these placeholders and follow the template's style and formatting. 

Here is the output template:
Hello [OWNER_NAME],
My name is [YOUR_NAME], and I help local trade businesses like yours—[BUSINESS_NAME]—optimize their taxes and reduce stress during filing season.
Based on your work in [TRADE_TYPE], you may qualify for:
 1. [DEDUCTION_1]
 2. [DEDUCTION_2]
 3. [DEDUCTION_3]
If you want me to run a free deduction review, just reply to this email.
Best regards,
[YOUR_NAME]

Apply this template to:
Generate a sales email for all trade-like businesses (landscaping, roofing, contracting, etc) in the local geographic area, and create an email that is advertising our tax prep services specializing in sole-proprietor trade businesses. 

Why this works:

The template does a couple things: 1) it forces the LLM to focus on what you care about, 2) it creates a consistency for the output. You can create a wonderful human-AI mix by using templatized output. 

Up next: Wrapping it all up