Open vs Closed Prompts Demonstrated in ChatGPT [ Discussion ]

Summary

In this educational video, the presenter explores the distinction between open and closed prompts when interacting with AI. Open prompts offer AI the freedom to decide the output, exemplified by asking an AI to create a Python script without specifics. Conversely, closed prompts limit AI's decision-making by providing detailed instructions, such as requesting a script specifically for uploading CSV files to an SQL database. The video illustrates the variability of responses with open prompts versus the consistency and specificity of closed prompts. Through examples with Chad GPT, the presenter demonstrates how the AI's output changes based on the level of prompt detail, emphasizing the importance of clarity in achieving desired AI-generated content.

Takeaways

• 📜 Open prompts allow the AI to decide more of the output.
• 📝 Closed prompts provide specific details, limiting the AI's decisions.
• 🔄 An open prompt can result in variable responses each time.
• 🎯 A closed prompt aims to give consistent, specific outputs with minimal variation.
• 📂 Example of an open prompt: 'Create a python script for me.'
• 🔧 Example of a closed prompt: 'Create a python script for me that includes a function for uploading CSV files to an SQL database.'
• 🛠️ The AI may recognize overly open prompts and request more details for clarity.
• ⚙️ Open prompts can yield a wide range of different outputs.
• 🔒 Closed prompts tend to produce more similar outputs with detailed instructions.
• 📝 Adding more constraints to a prompt further closes it, making the output even more specific.

Q & A

What is the main difference between an open and a closed prompt according to the video?

An open prompt allows the AI to decide more of what the output is, while a closed prompt limits the AI's decision-making by providing more details and narrowing down the output options.

Can you provide an example of an open prompt as mentioned in the video?

An example of an open prompt is asking an AI like Chat GPT to 'create a Python script for me', which leaves it open for the AI to decide what kind of script to create.

What is an example of a closed prompt given in the video?

A closed prompt example is asking for 'a Python script that includes a function built for the purpose of uploading CSV files to an SQL database', which is more specific and limits the AI's creativity.

Why might you receive different responses with the same open prompt?

With an open prompt, the AI has more freedom to decide the output, which can lead to variable responses each time the prompt is used, especially if the prompt is too open-ended.

How does a closed prompt affect the output compared to an open prompt?

A closed prompt should result in more specific outputs with minimal variation, as it provides the AI with clear instructions and limits its decision-making capabilities.

What is the purpose of providing more details in a closed prompt?

Providing more details in a closed prompt helps to guide the AI towards a specific outcome, ensuring that the output meets the user's exact requirements or expectations.

How does the video illustrate the concept of open and closed prompts with GPT?

The video demonstrates the concept by pasting an open prompt and observing GPT's response, which is then compared to a closed prompt to show the difference in specificity and decision-making by the AI.

What is the significance of the AI's response to the open prompt in the video?

The AI's response to the open prompt in the video shows that even with an open-ended question, the AI may still provide a specific example, highlighting the AI's ability to interpret and respond to open prompts.

What does the video suggest about the AI's ability to optimize its responses?

The video suggests that the AI can optimize its responses based on the level of openness or closure of the prompt, and that it can adjust its output to be more or less detailed as instructed.

How can you further close a prompt to get an even more specific output, as shown in the video?

You can further close a prompt by adding more specific instructions, such as specifying the use of certain libraries (like pandas and SQL Alchemy), optimizing for the shortest script length, or limiting the character count of the output.

What is the benefit of using a closed prompt in terms of consistency?

Using a closed prompt ensures consistency in the output, as the AI is given clear guidelines and is less likely to provide varied responses when the same prompt is used multiple times.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Open and Closed Prompts in AI

This paragraph discusses the distinction between open and closed prompts when interacting with AI. An open prompt provides the AI with more freedom to decide the output, exemplified by asking an AI like GPT to create a Python script without specific details. This can lead to variable responses. Conversely, a closed prompt limits the AI's decision-making by providing detailed instructions, such as creating a Python script specifically for uploading CSV files to an SQL database, which results in more consistent and specific outputs. The paragraph also demonstrates this concept through examples with GPT, showing how the AI's responses vary based on the openness of the prompt.

05:01

📝 Refining AI Prompts for Specificity

The second paragraph focuses on refining AI prompts to achieve greater specificity and optimization. It explains how adding more detailed instructions to a prompt can lead to more concise and targeted outputs. The paragraph illustrates this by progressively narrowing down a prompt to include specific requirements such as using Python's pandas and SQL Alchemy libraries and optimizing the script for the shortest length possible. This results in a more streamlined and efficient script. The paragraph also emphasizes the importance of clear instructions in obtaining desired results from AI systems.

Keywords

💡Open Prompt

An 'Open Prompt' is a type of inquiry or request that is broad and non-specific, allowing the AI to interpret and generate a response with a wide range of possibilities. In the context of the video, it is used to illustrate the concept where the AI has more freedom to decide the output. For instance, when the user asks the AI to 'create a Python script,' it opens the door for the AI to create any kind of script it deems appropriate, thus leading to potentially diverse and variable responses.

💡Closed Prompt

A 'Closed Prompt' is a more specific and detailed request that limits the AI's creative freedom and guides it towards a particular outcome. The video uses this term to describe prompts that narrow down the AI's decision-making process. An example from the script is asking the AI to 'create a Python script that includes a function for uploading CSV files to an SQL database.' This type of prompt results in a more predictable and consistent output with minimal variation.

💡AI Decision-Making

AI Decision-Making refers to the process by which an artificial intelligence system selects and generates a response based on the input it receives. In the video, this concept is discussed in the context of open and closed prompts. With an open prompt, the AI has more freedom to make decisions, whereas a closed prompt restricts its decision-making capabilities, guiding it towards a specific output.

💡Python Script

A 'Python Script' is a piece of code written in the Python programming language to automate tasks or perform specific functions. The video uses Python scripts as examples to demonstrate the difference between open and closed prompts. The AI is asked to create different types of Python scripts based on the openness or closedness of the prompts provided by the user.

💡Output

In the context of AI and the video, 'Output' refers to the result or response generated by the AI system after processing an input or prompt. The video discusses how the nature of the output varies depending on whether the prompt is open or closed, with open prompts leading to more variable outputs and closed prompts producing more specific and consistent results.

💡Variable Responses

'Variable Responses' in the video refers to the different outcomes that can be generated by the AI when given open prompts. The script mentions that with an open prompt, the AI could provide a wide range of responses, potentially leading to different outputs each time the prompt is used.

💡Specific Output

A 'Specific Output' is a precise and predictable result that the AI is expected to generate in response to a closed prompt. The video emphasizes that closed prompts should yield specific outputs with minimal variation, as opposed to the varied responses that can occur with open prompts.

💡Optimization

In the video, 'Optimization' is mentioned in the context of refining the AI's output to meet certain criteria, such as brevity or efficiency. For example, the script describes optimizing a Python script to be the shortest length possible, which is an example of optimizing the AI's output based on specific instructions given in a closed prompt.

💡Pandas

Pandas is a popular Python library used for data manipulation and analysis. In the video, it is mentioned as a specific tool to be used in creating a Python script for uploading CSV files to an SQL database. The mention of Pandas in a closed prompt serves to narrow down the AI's options and guide it towards a particular solution.

💡SQL Alchemy

SQL Alchemy is another Python library, often used in conjunction with Pandas, that provides tools for working with SQL databases. The video script uses SQL Alchemy as an example of a specific library that could be included in a closed prompt to guide the AI towards creating a script with a particular functionality.

Highlights

Open prompts allow AI to decide more of the output, while closed prompts limit AI's decision-making by providing more details.

An example of an open prompt is asking an AI to create a Python script without specifying the purpose.

A closed prompt example is asking for a Python script specifically for uploading CSV files to an SQL database.

Open prompts can lead to variable responses each time they are used due to their open-ended nature.

Closed prompts should yield specific outputs with minimal variation.

The video demonstrates the difference between open and closed prompts using an example with Chad GPT.

GPT4 is shown to be cautious with open prompts, avoiding random outputs without clear direction.

The AI provides a simple Python script to count words in a text file as an example of an open prompt's output.

Instructions on how to use the provided script are given alongside the script itself.

A closed prompt narrows down the output, as shown with a script for uploading CSV files to SQL databases.

The closed prompt includes specific instructions for installing necessary libraries and using SQL Alchemy.

Comments and instructions are provided within the script to guide the user.

Using the same closed prompt again demonstrates the consistency of the output.

Variations in comments show slight differences, but the overall steps remain consistent.

Further closing the prompt by specifying the use of Python Pandas and SQL Alchemy.

Optimizing the script for the shortest length possible can be achieved by adding specific instructions.

The video concludes by showing the most optimized version of the script as an example of a highly closed prompt.

The difference between open and closed prompts and their prompting styles are clearly illustrated.

Transcripts

so in this video we're going to talk

about open versus closed prompts and the

concept here is that an open prompt this

allows the AI to decide more of what the

output is and a closed prompt

makes it so that your prompt is deciding

more of what the output is so an example

of a open prompt would be where you

would go to chat GPT and say create a

python script for me

now you see it's like an open-ended

question basically which is where that

term open comes from

where we're opening the door for the AI

to basically make decisions on what sort

of python script it will decide to

create for you and then with a closed

prompt we are saying create a python

script for me

that includes a function built for the

purpose of uploading CSV files to an SQL

database right so

what we're doing is we are closing the

gap on the ai's ability to make

decisions by providing it with more

details

and where we're limiting its creativity

in a sense or its ability to decide what

the best option of thing to show you

um one thing with these that's important

to highlight as well is that

with an open prompt you could get

variable different responses all the

time you could get any number of

different responses with the same prompt

if it was too open if it was too wide

open uh every time you use it you might

get a different response and with a

closed prompt you should be getting more

of a very specific output with minimal

variation

from it so that's kind of the basics

there but we are going to go over some

examples of these

all right here we are with Chad gbt what

we're going to do is paste that open

prompt from the example and we're going

to see what this does so it's going to

say okay cool

I'll make a python script for you and

what we're actually experiencing here

with gpt4 right now is it's actually

describing that the prompt is so open

that it doesn't actually want to just

give you a random open output but what I

could do is I can just say give me

anything I just want to see an example

right so we've told it to be random so

now it's going to pick this random use

case

I think the optimization here is that

with this model it's defined what is to

open what doesn't make sense what needs

to be closed right so right here we have

a python script that reads a text file

counts the number of words in it and

describes the displays the word count so

pretty simple script and it gives you

this some instructions on how to use the

script and so on but let's go and

actually use our closed script and

actually narrow down the uh the output

right so this one will use the

example from

the previous

previous discussion and so what we're

seeing here is

it says okay you're going to need to

install this pandas SQL Alchemy and then

here's the sample script using SQL

alchemy that would allow you to upload a

CSV file to a SQL database and then it

also gives you some comments some

instructions and it talks about

how that connection would work and then

we can iterate with on this from here on

out so pretty pretty straightforward

breakdown what I do want to show you

though is if we use the same closed

prompt again I want to provide an

illustration of of how the output will

be more closed and less open for

interpretation than the open prompt so

I'm actually going to slide over to

another chat I'm going to show you the

same prompt again and we're going to

compare the similarity okay so we pasted

the same prompt in again

it's going through

and it gave us the exact same First Step

maybe with some variations of words I'd

have to check

um

but then it's going through

it's describing everything we have some

variation in the comment these comments

do look a little bit different

but from there

it's saying okay

here's the steps that you need to

take to connect to your SQL database

and so on

CC this is the kind of output of a

closed prompt and if we wanted to

close this even more we could take a

prompt like this

and we could say something like

um

and

make sure you

use

python pandas

right so we could close it even more so

we say like hey make sure you use pandas

make sure you use make sure you use

um

SQL Alchemy which is part of pandas

I say

and make sure you

optimize the script to be the shortest

length possible which will then limit

our character count and bring down the

output

we could also tell it something like

um

hey go ahead and only give us a certain

character length cool and I just had to

refresh real quick

something went wrong and so

uh now it's going forward and we we

close the prompt even more with more

specific instructions and so now we've

got

the most optimized version of a script

and so this is much shorter than what it

was giving us before

look over here

and so we got the most optimized version

right here

and so awesome so I hope that that

describes the difference between a open

and a closed prompt and how those two

types of prompting Styles would be

different