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Adapting to the Age of AI: How Prompting Is Becoming as Essential as Reading

  • Writer: Tat Yuen
    Tat Yuen
  • Jun 11
  • 5 min read

The assertion that "reading is fundamental" has long served as a bedrock principle in education and personal development. “Reading is Fundamental” became the slogan and name for the organisation, rif.org, that was founded in 1966 to address child literacy. The long-lived slogan underscores the critical role of literacy in accessing knowledge, fostering understanding, and enabling meaningful engagement with the world around us.

The ability to decode written language is the key that unlocks vast stores of information, nurtures critical thinking, and lays the groundwork for effective communication. Reading forms the fundamental literacy that empowers individuals to navigate and contribute to society.


However, the rapid advancement and increasing integration of artificial intelligence into our daily lives are prompting (pun intended) a re-evaluation of what constitutes fundamental skills. While the significance of reading remains undeniable, a new competency is swiftly rising in prominence: the ability to craft effective prompts for getting LLMs to generate the output we want.


In this evolving landscape, the skill of "writing good prompts" is emerging as the new fundamental literacy, mirroring reading's crucial role in unlocking information and empowering individuals in an increasingly intelligent world. Just as reading serves as the essential tool for extracting meaning from written text, well-constructed prompts function as the key to harnessing the potential embedded within AI systems.


Consider the historical parallel of information retrieval. Before the digital age, acquiring knowledge on a specific subject involved navigating libraries, consulting card catalogs, and diligently perusing relevant texts that would then reference other relevant texts. The efficiency of this process was intrinsically linked to one's reading comprehension, research abilities, and sometimes, foot speed.


Similarly, in the age of AI, our capacity to obtain pertinent information, generate creative content, or solve complex problems is increasingly contingent upon our proficiency in formulating clear, well-constructed, and insight-inducing prompts.


Imagine someone who is doing research about the impact of AI on the future of work.It could be a student in university or someone in a mid-career transition. Traditionally, this would involve searching the internet for relevant documents, analyzing these documents, and synthesizing information from the various sources. The researcher's comprehension would be shaped by their ability to navigate complex sentence structures, understand historical context, and critically evaluate differing interpretations.

Now, consider the same task with access to a sophisticated language model. The student could use something like Google’s NotebookLM to find relevant sources and use targeted prompts such as:


  • "Which job roles in which industries will be most impacted by AI automation?"

  • "Compare the socio-economic disruptions caused by past technological innovations to those that will be caused by AI."


These are just examples of simple one-shot prompts. The quality and relevance of the AI's output are directly tied to the precision and clarity of these prompts. A vague prompt like "Tell me about future of work in a AI-driven world" would likely yield a broad and less focused response — akin to a poorly directed search in a physical archive.


The skill of writing effective prompts transcends mere information retrieval. It encompasses the ability to guide AI models to perform a diverse range of tasks, mirroring how reading comprehension enables us to follow instructions or understand narratives.

Consider the scenario of a marketing professional developing content for a social media campaign. Instead of a general request, they might prompt an AI:

"Generate three concise and engaging social media posts promoting our new line of eco-friendly cleaning products, each highlighting a different benefit: plant-based ingredients, effective cleaning power, and reduced plastic packaging."

This prompt specifies the desired output format, target platform, and key selling points, thus guiding the AI toward a more relevant and effective response.

A less specific prompt, such as "Write some social media posts for our cleaning products," would likely produce generic and less impactful content, which would lead to another iteration of prompting.


The very act of formulating effective prompts encourages a deeper engagement with the subject matter, akin to the critical thinking stimulated by careful reading.

When constructing a prompt, you must first:


  • Define the objective

  • Identify the essential parameters

  • Consider the nuances of language that might influence the AI's output


This process mirrors the analytical skills used when interpreting complex texts, where readers must discern the author's intent, identify key arguments, and evaluate supporting evidence.


For example, prompting an AI to:

"Explain the concept of supply and demand in economics using everyday examples"

…requires a prior understanding of the concept itself and the ability to articulate the desired level of explanation and relatable illustrations. This is why domain knowledge is critical, and those without it are at a disadvantage.


The parallel extends to the critical evaluation of information. Just as proficient readers learn to identify reliable sources, recognize biases, and assess the validity of arguments presented in written texts, effective prompters must critically evaluate the output generated by AI models.


And there’s a specific prompt pattern for the output to highlight key points in the output that should be scrutinized.

The ability to:

  • Formulate follow-up prompts to clarify ambiguities

  • Refine initial queries based on the AI's response

  • Identify potential inaccuracies or biases in the generated content

…is crucial.


For instance, if an AI provides a summary of a complex scientific topic that seems oversimplified, a skilled prompter might follow up with:

"Explain the limitations of this model or theory and discuss any alternative perspectives."

This iterative process of prompting and evaluating mirrors the critical engagement fostered by thoughtful reading.And some of you may be thinking, can I use another LLM to verify or corroborate?Yes, but remain vigilant and critical. While the fundamental importance of reading in accessing and understanding written information remains a cornerstone of human development, the rise of sophisticated artificial intelligence necessitates the recognition of "writing good prompts" as a new and equally essential literacy.


Just as reading unlocked the vast repositories of human knowledge, effective prompting unlocks the immense potential of artificial intelligence.

It empowers individuals to:


  • Efficiently retrieve information

  • Generate creative content

  • Solve problems

  • Critically engage with AI-generated outputs


In an increasingly AI-driven world, the ability to communicate effectively with these intelligent systems through well-crafted prompts is becoming the new fundamental skill, shaping how we learn, work, and interact with information — much like reading has done for centuries.

The evolving landscape of fundamental skills demands that we recognize and cultivate this new literacy to ensure individuals are well-equipped to navigate and thrive in the intelligent future.It’s like relearning how to learn using these new tools — tools that can expand our horizons and open up new opportunities. And we are just at the beginning of this new era — so now’s a good time to learn how to use AI and not get left behind.






 
 
 

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