The Future of Prompt Engineering

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Prompt engineering may become a specialized skill that only a few individuals excel at, making them more valuable. However, it is also possible that prompt engineering gets abstracted and made accessible to everyone through user-friendly interfaces, similar to reading and writing. It is uncertain whether becoming an excellent prompt engineer will be necessary for everyone or if it will be a valuable skill for a select few. The creators of foundational tools have an incentive to simplify prompt engineering for wider use. Pushing the boundaries of prompt engineering allows for exploration and iteration, leading to exceptional results. While it may not become a necessary skill for everyone, there will be individuals who develop a passion and expertise in prompt engineering. Additionally, there may be a role for people to create a layer of prompts that the average person doesn't see, enhancing interactions with AI models.

With every new technology, some jobs are lost while others are gained. People often focus on the former, but in this episode we chose to highlight the latter – a highly creative role that emerges alongside AI: the prompt engineer.

Until AI can close the loop of its own, each tool still requires a set of prompts. Just like a composer feeds an instrument the notes to play, a prompt engineer feeds an AI a map of what to produce. And if we know anything from music it’s that composing great music takes great skill!

In this episode we explore the emerging importance of prompting with Guy Parsons, the early learnings of how to do it effectively, and where this field might be going.

Will the prompt engineer be more like the highly sought after DevOps engineer, or a proficiency like Excel that you find on every resume? Listen in to hear Guy’s take.

Interested in the prompt competition? Email us at podpitches@a16z.com.

Resources:

DALL-E 2 Prompt Book: https://dallery.gallery/the-dalle-2-prompt-book/

Find Guy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuyP

Guy’s combining image experiment: https://twitter.com/GuyP/status/1612880405207580672

Guy’s amorphous prompt experiment: https://twitter.com/GuyP/status/1608475973300948993

Guy’s space duck: https://twitter.com/GuyP/status/1601342688225525761

Prompt base: https://promptbase.com/

Lexica: https://lexica.art/

Topics Covered:

0:00 - Introduction

01:49 - DALL-E 2 Prompt Book

05:29 - Parallel skills

06:51 - 80/20 prompting

10:16 - New ways of prompting

13:44 - Pulling the AI slot machine

18:09 - Comparing models

21:04 - Requested features

26:34 - Learning with AI

27:58 - Practical use cases

32:08 - A top 1% prompt engineer

36:17 - The most popular images

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.