Big decision? Here’s the AI prompt to use

Intel or AMD? MacBook Neo or iPad? McDonald’s or Wendy’s? These are all tough choices, and if we’re feeling harassed or overwhelmed, it might be tempting to simply ask an AI to choose for us.

Or, consider this: in fact, you TO DO You want to make the choice yourself, but your prompt – “Should I go for an Intel or AMD processor?” – makes it seem like you want the AI ​​to make the call, not you.

A recent discussion in the r/PromptEngineering subreddit addresses this very issue, with the issue being the difference between asking an AI to make a choice and asking it to analyze the pros and cons of the choices you have.

“AI making the choice for you = might not be right for you,” Reddit user AdCold610 wrote. “AI explaining trade-offs = you make an informed choice.” This is a crucial distinction, and the difference between a prompt that gives an argument for a choice and a prompt that instead provides an analysis of your choices.

This means that instead of this prompt:

Should I get an Intel processor or AMD?

You use this prompt:

Intel versus AMD: give me the pros and cons

And consider addressing this as well:

along with hidden downsides

Of course, your mileage may vary depending on the LLM you’re using and the topic you’re asking about.

But, in general, I agree with the gist of the discussion on r/PromptEngineering: the first prompt can push the model to first make a choice and then build an argument for it, while the second tends to produce a more balanced and detailed analysis that leaves the final decision up to you.

This type of prompting leads to a broader discussion about the idea of ​​AI as a “middle-man” assistant rather than a robot that does everything for you.

Simply put, we humans have key roles at each “end” of a project. We provide the problem to an AI to solve, and then we judge the outcome of the “intermediary” part performed by the AI.

In this case, we start with a topic (e.g. Intel vs. AMD) and ask the AI ​​for the analysis, which is the middle part. The final decision is ours, not the AI.