We are now ready to test out a chatbot. Open a chatbot to start - you may have to sign up for an account to start. Here are some suggestions for popular AI LLM chatbots:

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ChatGPT

Bard

Perplexity

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Spend a few minutes in conversation with the chatbot. You can ask it any question you like, but here are a few ideas if you are stuck:

Can you describe how gravity on earth works?

What will happen in the future?

Which story about a famous artist do you know?

Can you differentiate between a verb and a noun?

What is the difference between a bacteria and a virus?

How were you developed?

Can you suggest a recipe for a chocolate cake?

What are the advantages of cycling versus running for exercise?

 

These questions or statements that you can ask a chatbot are called prompts. You may have noticed that sometimes the AI program doesn’t give you the answer that you wanted, or that it doesn’t have enough detail, or too much useless detail. You can use several 'prompt engineering' techniques to create prompts that generate better answers for your needs. Here are some ideas for better prompts:

• Be specific - ask for exactly what you want, and what you don’t want.

• Include the answer format that you want. For example “a few sentences”, “bullet points”, “a list of arguments”, “a script for a movie scene”, “a table with 3 columns”, “a diary entry”.

• Think of a way to phrase an open ended question so that the response can be more detailed.

• Give some background information to help the program find the right data for your topic.

 

For example, instead of asking:

What is the difference between a bacteria and a virus?

You can be more specific and ask for a target audience:

How do bacteria and viruses differ in their structures, behaviours, and impact on living organisms? Please give 3-5 bullet points in your answer, and a description that is appropriate for a 16 year old studying biology at school.

 

Or instead of:

What will happen in the future?

Ask:

What changes in architecture will happen in the next 10 years across Abu Dhabi. For your answer, give me a dialogue where two characters in 2034 are discussing these changes.

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As you use AI chatbots, you will gain confidence and expertise in creating good prompts and useful answers.

 

INTERACTIVE

Try some of your earlier questions again with these suggestions and see how the response changes.