Give AI the full picture
Intermediate 1 · 1 minute 45 seconds · Free to learn · Words printed on screen · Watch above, then try the exercise below.
What you'll learn
- Why vague questions get generic answers
- The three-part brief — context, task, example
- How examples teach tone faster than instructions
- What never belongs in the picture (secrets and ID numbers)
Key points
Maggie needs a letter about a leak in her flat. Asked cold — "write a letter about a leak in my flat" — AI hands back a polite, generic letter that could be for anyone, anywhere. So she gives it the full picture first: who she is, where she lives, when the leak started (the ceiling stain appeared on the third of March), what she has already tried (two emails to the landlord), and what good looks like — firm but friendly, two short paragraphs, a clear ask for a plumber this week. The letter that comes back sounds like her, on her actual problem, with nothing to rescue.
That is the whole skill, and it has three parts: context, task, example. Background first, then the job, then an example of good — Maggie shows the AI a letter of her own so it can borrow her tone, because examples teach faster than instructions. The same three parts work everywhere: a recipe improves when the AI knows your stove and the peppers nobody touches, and a trip plan changes completely when it knows your knees, your budget, and that you hate rushing.
One caution, and it matters: give the picture of the situation — never the secrets. No passwords, no bank details, no ID numbers. Context is not confession. Camp rule: The better the brief, the better the answer.
Try it
- Pick a question you asked before.
- Add who, where, when, and what you have tried.
- Ask again and compare the two answers.
The words in this video
Prefer to read, or want to follow along while you watch? Here is everything the narrator says in this lesson, word for word.
Welcome back to AI Camp. I am Maggie, and this is the Intermediate series — for people who have had their first conversations and want better answers. Here is the secret of this whole level. AI answers the question you actually asked — including everything you left out. Ask it cold, like this — write a letter about a leak in my flat — and you get a polite, generic letter that could be for anyone, anywhere.
Now watch what happens when I give it the full picture first. Who I am. Where I live. When the leak started. What I have already tried. I type it all in, in plain words, before I ask for anything. The ceiling stain appeared on the third of March. I have emailed the landlord twice. I add what good looks like. Firm but friendly. Two short paragraphs. A clear ask — a plumber this week, please.
And I show it an example — a letter of mine it can borrow the tone from. Examples teach faster than instructions. The letter that comes back sounds like me, on my actual problem. Dates right. Tone right. Nothing to rescue. That is the whole skill. Background first, then the job, then an example of good. Context, task, example.
It works everywhere. A recipe gets better when the AI knows your stove, your two eaters, and the peppers nobody touches. A trip plan changes completely when it knows your knees, your budget, and that you hate rushing. Same tool — fuller picture. Try it this week. Take a question you have already asked, and ask it again with the full picture added. Compare the two answers side by side.
One caution, and it matters. Give the picture of the situation — never the secrets. No passwords, no bank details, no ID numbers. Context is not confession. Camp rule — the better the brief, the better the answer. Next time, we put whole documents to work. See you there.