There isn't a truly user-oriented AI App available yet, while most people hope to use AI to help them complete some basic tasks. Actually, there are some methods that can be referenced.
Next, I will synthesize the content I have written before, using writing a piece of copy as an example, to organize a step-by-step operation guide, hoping to bring some help to those who read this article.
This is a method for creating copy using AI, a method for product manager requirement design, and also a reference approach for designing Agents.
Things to note:
- This is a methodology designed around the current limitations of AI models and conversational interaction.
- It's not the user's fault if they don't know how to ask AI questions; it's a product defect.
- When using AI, always be vigilant about the content it outputs.
- Prevent the accumulation of errors in multi-turn conversations.
- Use AI well, rather than being limited by it.
I believe that as long as you use it more, everyone can summarize a methodology that suits them. Mastery comes with practice for any tool; the more you use it, the more naturally you will integrate and understand it.
Step 1 Define Roles: Who "You" Are, Who "It" Is
"Who it is": This tells the AI what identity to assume to solve the problem. It "narrows down" the abstract large model into a professional role, reducing irrelevant answers.
A chef and a firefighter have different attitudes towards fire. When solving the problem of "the stove catching fire," the chef would lift the pot, while the firefighter would pull out the fire hose.
Making the AI clearly understand its role can effectively constrain its reasoning patterns, facilitate its use of built-in expert models, and prevent it from using a fire hose to cook.
"Who I am": That is, what identity the user has, telling the AI who it is working for.
Again, using the chef and firefighter as examples, whether "I" am a diner or a citizen affected by the fire will also influence the AI's output.
If "it" is a chef and "I" am a citizen affected by the fire, it might try to put out the fire for me with a wok. Although current AI already possesses a certain level of judgment, it's not guaranteed that such problems won't occur in some specific scenarios.
"You are a writer proficient in English writing, and I am a high school senior student."
Step 2 Define the Scenario
Defining the scenario is telling the AI the environmental information you are in and the information you have prepared to solve the problem. This prevents the AI from fabricating conditions and makes the output fit the real situation.
For a chef, working on a home stove versus in a commercial kitchen involves different ways of working. Moreover, you need to tell it what ingredients you have available for cooking. After all, if basic conditions are lacking, this AI chef is likely to run wild. For it, lacking conditions means fabricating them; as long as it's logically consistent, it doesn't care about authenticity or usability.
You need to clearly tell the AI about your work environment, your state, your materials, etc. This information forms the foundational conditions for solving the requirement. For example:
"I am writing an English article about an outing. During the outing, I did xxxxxxx."
Step 3 Define the Requirement
Defining the requirement means clearly informing the AI what work you need it to complete for you, which is also the AI's work objective. Defining the goal clearly avoids off-topic outputs.
This AI chef can effortlessly handle all eight major Chinese cuisines, but what dishes it will make depends on which cuisines appear frequently in its training data. Therefore, you need to define the work objective for the AI, so that if you want Shandong cuisine, it only makes Shandong cuisine; if you want Cantonese cuisine, it only makes Cantonese cuisine.
"I need you to write this English article for me" rather than teaching me how to write an article.
Step 4 Define the Framework
This involves defining the structure of the content the AI will output and also giving specific requirements to the AI. It makes the result closer to a usable form rather than a pile of scattered text.
This is also "ordering dishes." Telling the chef to make Cantonese cuisine is the requirement; "the first dish is steamed fish, the second dish is xxx" is ordering. Having the AI output according to the form you envision is a key step for structured output.
At the same time, you can also make stylistic requests to the AI, such as salty, sweet, bitter, or spicy. For example:
"I hope the first paragraph expresses my feelings about going on an outing with friends, the second paragraph writes about interesting things that happened on the bus, the third paragraph xxxxxx. I want the article style to be lively, with a word count within 1000 words, xxxxxx."
If you are unsure how to define the structure, you might as well send the first 3 steps to the AI and let it design based on your requirements.
"Please help me design the structure of this English article and provide style recommendations."
Step 5 Define the Content of Each Module
In writing, this means controlling each paragraph, which can be understood as more precise control over the AI's output content. This step can prevent the AI from losing control in long tasks and also facilitate local corrections.
If you ask a chef to make steamed fish for you, the chef will only make it according to its own taste. If you have requirements for how the fish is prepared, you can clearly ask the chef to make a dish that suits your taste. You can ask for vinegar in this steamed fish, or specify whether to use grass carp or sea bass, etc.
More precise and clear definitions can help you better control the AI to meet your expectations. If you need to write an article more complex than a high school English essay or complete a more complex task, this step is essential.
For example, when writing an article, you can propose "For the first paragraph, I hope to express my joyful and excited mood because I will meet my long-unseen friend," or if you have an article link for reference, you can also do this: "The first paragraph can refer to this article: https//:www.xxxx.com."
If the content you need to construct is relatively complex, or if you have a lot of materials to provide, it's best to start a new conversation for defining each module. Send the first 4 steps and the module you need to create to the AI and define them separately. For example:
"You are a writer proficient in English writing, and I am a high school senior student.
I am writing an English article about an outing. During the outing, I did xxxxxxx.
I need you to write this English article for me.
I hope the first paragraph expresses my feelings about going on an outing with friends, the second paragraph writes about interesting things that happened on the bus, the third paragraph xxxxxx.
For the first paragraph, I hope to express my joyful and excited mood because I will meet my long-unseen friend.
Please help me write the content for the first paragraph."
After completion, start a new conversation and repeat this process, continuing with "Please help me write the content for the second paragraph." Some AIs will presumptuously complete all modules at once, which will inevitably cause information confusion in complex long texts. To avoid this situation, you can add one more sentence at the end:
"Only complete the task according to my requirements; do not do anything extra."
Step 6 Module Combination
Effectively combining each module is equivalent to plating and serving dishes. In a banquet, each dish seems to stand alone, but a chef with aspirations will control the connection between dishes. Specifically for writing, this means the transitions between paragraphs.
If the article is output by the AI all at once, this step can be ignored. For more complex creations, you need to merge the information from steps 1, 2, 3, and 5 and send it to the AI, asking it to complete the integration.
"You are a writer proficient in English writing, and I am a high school senior student.
I am writing an English article about an outing. During the outing, I did xxxxxxx.
[First paragraph text]
[Second paragraph text]
……
I need you to complete the integration for me, requiring logical coherence and tight connections." At this point, your requirement for the AI is no longer to write an article but to combine existing content, which is optimization.
Step 7 Proofreading and Checking
This is the final step. You need to check the content output by the AI. It's equivalent to tasting the dishes made by the chef. This step is crucial because it prevents hallucinations and errors, ensuring reliable results.
During the use of AI, you need to always be vigilant about the content it outputs. Because no matter how you constrain and require the AI, hallucinations are an inevitable problem at this stage. It will fabricate facts, presumptuously modify your requirements for it, and misinterpret the meaning of materials. It might mistake sugar for salt and also trick you into calling shrimp fish.
If you really cannot discern whether the AI's output is correct, you can ask it to provide citation sources or ask it to perform semantic comparisons for certain content and references.
"Check if the article meets my requirements."
"Perform fact-checking and list information sources."
"Compare information sources and check for erroneous descriptions."
At this point, you can have the AI complete the creation of an article for you.