Famous AI expert told me prompt engineering was dead. He was wrong.

So I'm at this AI conference in Austin 3 months ago, and this guy who wrote like 3 books on AI tells me prompt engineering is a waste of time now because models are too smart. I actually believed him and stopped tweaking my prompts for work. Next thing I know, my outputs get way worse for like 2 weeks straight. I'm getting generic junk from ChatGPT when I used to get solid code snippets. Finally I went back to my old prompt style with specific examples and instructions, and boom, outputs are great again. Anyone else have someone give you bad advice like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret3041mo ago

Famous AI expert told me prompt engineering was dead" - I think that's a stretch honestly. Models still need clear instructions and examples, especially for coding or specific tasks. Even the smartest models can't read your mind about formatting or tone if you dont spell it out.

linda5001mo ago

My neighbor says the same about testing smoke detectors. Now my toast is burnt.

haydenbutler1mo ago

Now my toast is burnt" - yeah, been there. Move the smoke detector farther from the kitchen (like 10 feet away) if you can, or just pop the toast out a little early.