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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Use ChatGPT for everyday tasks by giving it six kinds of information in every prompt (task, context, example, persona, format, tone), reiterating in the same chat when answers miss, and building a reusable prompt library, including having ChatGPT write prompts for you. The video also recommends setting Custom Instructions and protecting personal data by not entering sensitive details or disabling chat saving.
Key Points
- Prompting means asking the AI to perform a task; start by asking what tasks it is most helpful with, and include details such as your industry for better answers.
- Reiteration: if a response is off, tell ChatGPT in the same chat what you dislike so it reprocesses and improves its answer.
- AI-crafted prompts: after a long productive chat, ask ChatGPT to write a reusable prompt based on what it learned about you, reiterate it a couple of times, then save it to your library.
- By default, each new chat starts blank, so Custom Instructions can store personal context and response style across chats.
- Chats are saved by default and may be reviewed by human reviewers at OpenAI, so avoid entering personal information such as social security or account numbers.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Go to chat.openai.com and log in or create an account. The free version gives ChatGPT 3.5; the video says $20 a month gives ChatGPT 4.0, and 3.5 is described as sufficient for beginners.
- Start by typing in the text box at the bottom and ask "What tasks are you most helpful with?" Then ask a more specific question, such as which business or design tasks it helps with most, after giving it your industry.
- Include six elements when possible: (1) a task, (2) context explaining why, (3) an example as a template, (4) a persona such as a cowboy or college professor, (5) a format such as list, table, script, or outline, and (6) a tone such as fun or serious.
- When an answer is unsatisfactory, say what you dislike in the same chat and let ChatGPT rework it.
- Build a prompt library in a blank document or an app such as PromptPlus, PromptBox, or Notion, with categories like personal and work prompts.
- To set defaults, click your account menu at the bottom left, choose Custom Instructions, and fill in two boxes: one about you (example: "I'm a biochemistry student interested in study tips and techniques") and one about response style (example: concise and simple wording, detailed responses, speak like a college professor, and flag missing important points).
- Use the toggle at the bottom of Custom Instructions to turn them off for a blank-slate chat.
- To protect data, avoid entering personal information, or go to ChatGPT settings and disable chat saving.
- The video recommends deleting chats that become awkward or odd from overprompting and starting over from a clean chat or a saved prompt.
- Having the AI write prompts is presented as a way to learn prompt construction, since you can see what it does and copy that approach later.
- The video notes reviewed data is generally de-identified, and says Google's Gemini follows similar practices.
Bottom Line
Effective ChatGPT use comes from giving specific context and structure, refining answers within the same chat, and saving the prompts that work, while keeping sensitive personal information out of chats.
