How to Talk to AI: Prompt Templates (Wrapping it Up)

Prompt templates are a great way to talk to AI because they turn uncertainty into structure. 

Plus, AI really does want to please you. If you get good at telling it what you want, you’ll get better results. Prompt templates provide a structured method for telling it what you want. 

Any prompt is just a starting point, and with LLMs, small changes in wording or structure can wildly change output.  

So templates give you consistency. They define roles, context, constraints, and output format. They embed the lessons of what’s worked before, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.  

Here is a convenient list and links to the templates I described in this series.

AI Prompt Templates

• Persona and Expertise – Use this for most tasks.
• Expert Panel – Use this for exploring different opinions and perspectives. 
• The Fact Checker – Use this when you need accuracy.
• The Procedural or Recipe Framework – Use this to get instructions.
• Navigating a Government System – Use this when you need guidance through the bureaucracy and regulations. 
• Test and Interview Prep – Use this to prepare for a test or interview. 
• Templatized Output – Use this when you want a specific output format — mass email, sales message, analysis, etc. 

Here’s another great resource for prompt templates. HuggingFace is a strange name with an interesting history, but regardless, what you’ll find at that link (if you have the patience) are hundreds of templates that AI teams use to test and compare various models. If none of the templates I provided above fit your use case, you can likely find a template that can guide you in this sea of test prompts.

With a good template, you don’t stare at a blank screen anymore. You fill in what changes (product name, audience, tone, data, etc) and hit go. Even non-deterministic LLMs can start to feel consistent (if not deterministic). 

When you sit down to talk to AI, whether it’s coding, marketing, writing, strategy, or figuring your way through a system, you can start here. Pick your template, fill in the info, and send it off to the LLM.