How to create the best prompts for AI

When a new technology emerges, we often need to spend considerable time learning how to use it—reading instructions, experimenting, failing to achieve our desired results, and then repeating the process until we master it.

What’s remarkable about AI is its simplicity. The interface is just a square box where we type our questions and instructions in plain English. It is both simple and powerful. AI leverages the incredible power of written language to instruct, explain, and set goals—much like we use language in everyday life.

To get the best out of AI, the key is learning how to provide clear instructions with well-defined goals, expectations, and context. Think of it as explaining a task to a clever new intern or employee. This process is referred to as prompting. The quality of the response largely depends on the quality of the prompt you’ve crafted.

What are the elements of an effective prompt?

You’ll want to incorporate certain elements into your prompts to ensure they generate valuable responses from AI systems. Depending on the context, these elements may include:

• Goal: Every strong prompt has a clear objective. Whether you write instructions or questions, you should describe what you want to achieve with this particular prompt.

• Context: Provide context. You may want to specify the time frame or explain how you plan on using the response (for example, for a report or an analysis).

• Expectations: Describe your target audience or the format you require. For example, you might want Microsoft365 Copilot to create a table, a list of action steps, a summary, or a diagram.

• Source: Specify any information, data sources, or plugins Microsoft365 Copilot should use. Some plugins may require additional context or supporting plugins to ensure a more accurate response.

Creating effective prompts: best practices

• Be specific, clear, and concise

Clearly define what you want to achieve. The best thing you can do is to just get started with your first prompt. As you become familiar with Copilot’s capabilities, you can add more details.

• Iterate and refine

Usually, the first result isn’t the best. Don’t hesitate to revise your prompt and try again. That way, you’ll likely get closer to the desired output.

Some sample prompts courtesy of Microsoft.

 “My role is [X] at company [Y], and I have the following business challenge: [Z]. Act as if you are a very experienced consultant in the area of [Z] and generate creative solutions to the challenge I just described.”

“Can you please recommend a fun and engaging orientation exercise for our [TEAM NAME] team day? Give me three options related to our current projects and activities. One of the options should be about [A TOPIC THAT’S CURRENTLY IMPORTANT TO YOU].”

“I’m working on a new marketing campaign for [PRODUCT/ SERVICE]. Be my brainstorming partner. Generate 5 innovative and data-driven campaign ideas based on current market trends and competitor analysis. Additionally, for each idea, suggest potential challenges and mitigation strategies.”

“Hi [GenAI], I am a [INSERT ROLE] that needs help with a diffi­cult conversation with a [CLIENT/FRIEND/BOSS/COLLEAGUE].

“Dear Copilot, I’d love to get your help on wrapping up my day and preparing for tomorrow. Please name the first section ‘Today.’ Can you please describe the work I completed today using a short paragraph and separately list tasks that resulted from my meetings? Also, highlight important things from today’s emails based on your analysis. Please name the next section ‘Tomorrow’s Meetings’ and create an overview of the meetings I have scheduled for tomorrow. Create a table, list those who organized the meeting, and add meeting details. Please also show the category under which you would place each meeting (personal, internal, external, or traveling) and add any information I need to be aware of. Please create a list that shows the % of time I’ll spend on the different categories.

“Act as a product owner. I would like to create feature ‘[FEATURE TITLE]’ for my application. The intended outcome of this feature is [FEATURE DESCRIPTION]. This functionality can be accessed by users with [ROLE DESCRIPTION]. Please write the user story, desired situation, acceptance criteria,

I want to retrieve all the action items assigned to @Nathalie during this meeting. Please collect all the information you can find about my action items and organize it in a table.