Asking for what you want · Lesson 3

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Send the weak version

Start a new chat. Send this exactly as written, then leave the answer on screen. You are going to compare against it shortly.

The weak version

Write something about our new opening hours.

What comes back will be competent and useless. It does not know who is reading, why they should care, how long it should be, or whether it is a poster or an email. So it guesses at all four, and guesses blandly.

I sent the weak version and read what came back
That answer is still on screen, ready for the comparison in step 3

Ten minutes here, and the same request will come back noticeably better.

Lesson 03 · Getting started

By the end you can

Name the four things worth adding to any request
Turn a vague request into a specific one
Judge two answers to the same task side by side

What you need

Any of the four. If you want to see the difference most starkly, use the same tool as lesson 2.

Fundamentals of AI

The four things it is missing

Almost every weak request is missing the same four things. You do not need a framework or a template, just these.

Who is reading it, and what they already know
What you want them to do or feel after reading
How long it should be
What form it takes: email, notice, message, list

Notice that none of these are about the tool. They are the same four things you would tell a new colleague if you handed them the job. That is the whole trick: describe the task the way you would describe it to a person who is capable but has no context.

Send the strong version

Same task, same tool, new chat. This time all four are present.

The strong version

Write a short email to regular customers of a small bookshop, telling them we now close at 6pm on Saturdays instead of 8pm. They will be mildly annoyed, so acknowledge that. I want them to know the weekday hours have not changed. Under 100 words, warm but not apologetic.

Put the two answers side by side. What changed?

Check your own work0/4

The second answer knew who it was talking to
The second answer had a clear purpose beyond announcing something
The second answer was the length I asked for
I would send the second one with light editing, not a rewrite

Do it with something of your own choosing

Pick any small writing task you can describe without using real names, figures or anything confidential. A reminder to a club, a notice for a bulletin board, a message to a neighbor. Write the request with all four things in it.

Your request, before you send it

Check your own work0/4

I said who is reading it
I said what I want them to do or feel
I said how long
I said what form it takes

Keep it invented or harmless for now. Lesson 7 is where you decide what is safe to put into these tools, and until then nothing here asks you for anything real.

Where that leaves you

A good request gets you a much better first answer. It does not get you a perfect one, and the reflex most people have at that point is to rewrite the request and start again. That is usually the slower path. Lesson 4 is about fixing the answer you already have.

Next: Getting a better second answer