Look, artificial intelligence isn’t going to replace your job or field—but it will replace people who don’t know how to work with it. And when I say “work with it,” I mean knowing how to talk to it, communicate effectively, and even train it to match your style and approach to get the best possible results.
Today, I want to show you exactly how to do this through what’s essentially a crash course in prompt engineering. This is just the beginning, though—you’ll need to study more and develop your skills further after this. But hey, we all need to start somewhere, right?
Table of Contents
What is Prompt Engineering?
Prompt engineering has emerged as one of the hottest fields during the recent AI boom, and for good reason. But it’s not just a field—it’s a critical skill everyone needs regardless of their profession. AI is now part of everything we do, and you need to know how to work with it properly.
In simple terms, prompt engineering is the art of crafting instructions for AI systems to get exactly the results you want. Think of it like having a super-smart personal assistant—way smarter than the one on your phone—but one that needs precise instructions to deliver its best work.
The more clear, detailed, and structured your instructions are, the better your results will be. Let me give you a quick example to illustrate:
If you ask ChatGPT “What is climate change?” you’ll get a general answer. But if you ask “Explain the impact of climate change on coastal cities over the next 50 years from both environmental and economic perspectives,” you’ll get a comprehensive, detailed response that actually addresses what you need.
This is why prompt engineering isn’t just about asking questions—it’s about structuring your requests in a way that aligns with how AI processes information. To do this effectively, you need to understand the AI model you’re working with—its strengths, capabilities, and limitations, as well as how it interprets context.
Core Principles of Prompt Engineering
Let’s dive into some practical principles with examples. I want you to follow along and take notes—and stick around till the end for some important points I’ll cover later.
1. Be Specific and Clear
The more specific your prompt, the better the AI will understand what you want, resulting in outputs that match your requirements.
Poor prompt: “Write an article about programming.”
Effective prompt: “Write a 1,000-word article about programming that focuses on its role in current technological development, how it will benefit society now and in the future, while emphasizing why learning the basics is important for everyone regardless of their field.”
2. Use Examples
Providing examples helps the AI understand your expectations, especially regarding style, tone, and format.
For instance, if you want to write a review, you could provide an example of another review you’ve written or one whose style you admire. Tell the AI: “Write a review for [product] in this style” and include your example. Don’t forget to add product features and important points you want to cover, along with contextual information like where it will be published and the desired length.
3. Break Down Complex Requests
For complex topics, break them down into smaller, manageable steps. This helps the AI understand the scope and deliver more cohesive results.
Instead of saying: “Write a blog post about digital marketing for beginners,” try:
“Write a blog post about digital marketing for beginners with the following structure:
- Define digital marketing and its fields
- Discuss the importance of digital marketing
- Outline a general learning plan for digital marketing
- End with advice to encourage the reader to learn
Additional writing guidelines:
- Use simple Arabic language
- The blog is for complete beginners
- Simplify and explain terminology
- Write as if explaining to a 10-year-old”
4. Review, Refine, and Question
Never accept the first response without review. Check the content, ask for clarifications about specific points, and verify information sources if necessary.
5. Language Considerations
English is the primary language of today’s AI models, which might affect performance in other languages, including Arabic. This doesn’t mean they’re ineffective in Arabic—you just need to provide more context and specific requests.
Specify not just “write in Arabic” but whether you want formal Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or a specific dialect. For colloquial language, provide examples of the tone and style you’re looking for—otherwise you might end up with something that sounds completely unnatural.
Practical Examples of Prompt Engineering
Let’s see how this works with some real-world examples. After reading this section, I want you to try these techniques yourself and share your results in the comments!
Example 1: Social Media Content
Basic prompt: “Write a social media post about healthy eating.”
Professional prompt: “Write a 150-word Instagram post about the benefits of healthy eating that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, and animal protein over sugars and simple carbohydrates. Use an encouraging tone and include a call to action.”
Why is the second prompt better? It provides everything the model needs to know: the platform (Instagram), word count, specific focus areas, tone, and even requests a call-to-action. The result will be a post that’s 80% of what you need rather than something generic.
Example 2: Customer Service Email
Basic prompt: “Write an email about a delayed order.”
Professional prompt: “Write a professional yet empathetic email to inform a customer that their order will be delayed by three days due to unexpected circumstances.”
The professional version provides specific details like the delay duration and sets the tone as both professional and empathetic, resulting in a personalized response rather than a generic template.
Example 3: Creative Writing
Basic prompt: “Write a story about a dragon.”
Professional prompt: “Write a 500-word fantasy story about a young dragon who discovers he has the ability to heal the sick instead of breathing fire like all other dragons. The story should include a moral lesson about self-acceptance, appreciating one’s unique abilities, and not making fun of those who are different. The story should end with the dragon saving his village with his healing powers rather than fire-breathing abilities.”
The professional prompt provides a character with specific traits, a plot direction, thematic elements, and a conclusion—giving the AI a clear structure to follow.
Example 4: Academic Research Help
Basic prompt: “Explain the causes of World War I.”
Professional prompt: “Explain the political, economic, and social causes of World War I in a way suitable for a high school student. Divide the essay into key points with examples of major events such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and other events that led to the war.”
The improved prompt specifies the types of causes to cover, the target audience, format requirements, and asks for specific examples—creating a comprehensive framework for the response.
Example 5: Product Description
Basic prompt: “Write a product description for a coffee machine.”
Professional prompt: “Write a 100-word product description for a luxury coffee machine, focusing on features like the built-in grinder, programmable settings, energy-saving mode, and modern sleek design. Use persuasive and interactive language targeting coffee lovers, and add a creative call to action.”
The professional prompt specifies word count, audience, key features to highlight, tone, and requests a call-to-action. You could enhance this further by providing an example of a product description style you like, detailed product specifications, and even an image.
Advanced Techniques
Let me share two more advanced techniques that build on what we’ve covered:
1. Chain-of-Thought Prompting
This approach asks the AI to explain its reasoning in detail. Instead of just answering your prompt, it explains why it responded the way it did. This works especially well for complex tasks like solving math problems.
For example, you might write: “Solve this math problem and explain your reasoning step by step” followed by the problem.
2. Few-Shot Learning
This technique provides examples before asking for a response—like creating a pattern for the AI to follow.
For example, in translation:
- “Good morning” equals “صباح الخير”
- “Thank you” equals “شكرا”
- “How are you?” equals “كيف حالك”
- Now translate: “See you later”
By showing the pattern, you help the AI understand exactly what you’re looking for.
Why Prompt Engineering Matters
Let’s wrap this up by summarizing why this skill is so crucial:
1. Better Results
Improve your inputs, and you’ll get better outputs. It’s like life—work hard correctly, and you’ll succeed. If you create detailed, well-structured prompts, you’ll get precise answers relevant to your question.
When using AI for writing blog posts or articles, vague prompts will give you shallow content that adds no value to readers. And in today’s world, content truly is king more than ever before (ignore anyone telling you “content is not king anymore”—that’s nonsense).
2. Save Time and Effort
Instead of going back and forth with the AI about missing information or unclear responses, a well-crafted prompt upfront saves you significant time. Create one or two detailed prompts and get satisfactory results you can work with immediately.
3. Access Advanced Capabilities
Every AI model has hidden capabilities that require specific prompting techniques to access. For example, you can ask it to respond as if it were a marketer, programmer, writer, or even a fictional character you’ve created. It will then provide specialized answers within that context.
4. Reduce Errors and Bias
Poorly written prompts can lead to biased responses or answers based on limited sources—or sometimes completely irrelevant information. Good prompt engineering helps minimize these issues.
The Future of Prompt Engineering
Today, prompt engineering is a skill being requested by some companies, but tomorrow it will be a fundamental skill everyone needs regardless of their field. Every sector in existence is integrating AI, and this isn’t just a technical skill—it involves soft skills like logical thinking.
You’ll find a comprehensive list of recommended books, courses, and resources in the description that will greatly help you continue learning. I hope this episode inspires you to keep studying and take one of these courses.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been saying for about 7-8 years that AI was coming, and many people didn’t believe me. They insisted nothing would replace humans. As I said at the beginning of this episode, AI won’t replace all humans—but it will replace those who refuse to learn how to work with it.
You don’t need to become an AI developer, but you do need to learn how to interact with it effectively. Each AI model has its own documentation that explains how it processes information, but prompt engineering has universal principles that will help you regardless of which model you’re using.
AI is entering every field today and will continue to expand its reach. It won’t take your job, but it will take the job of someone who is unwilling to learn, who just repeats things without understanding, who refuses to develop their digital literacy.
Don’t wait until you’re forced to learn these skills—do it willingly now. Why wait until you’re in a crisis? Why wait until you’re cornered? If you don’t know anything about computers, start by understanding the basics from YouTube. Learn about essential applications and fundamental digital skills.
The AI revolution is here, and the choice is simple: adapt and thrive, or resist and be left behind.
