Preface

The advent of large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4, Bard, and Claude, represents a seismic shift in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Fueled by vast datasets and compute power, these models can generate astonishingly human-like text and engage in complex dialogue. However, their potential is only fully realized through the art of prompt engineering – the process of carefully crafting the prompts that activate the models. Prompts encode instructions, context, examples, and guardrails to channel the models’ capabilities for specific tasks. Mastering prompt engineering unlocks the immense power of LLMs for a myriad of applications, from content creation to data analysis and beyond.

This book serves as a practical guide to prompt engineering across different domains. Through concrete examples and real-world case studies, readers will learn effective techniques for decomposing problems into discrete prompts, providing relevant background knowledge, iteratively refining prompts, and shaping model outputs. The journey equips readers with strategies to tap into the versatility of LLMs with properly engineered prompts. By following the techniques in this book, anyone can harness the problem-solving skills of AI systems such as GPT-4 and Claude to build solutions that create real value.