6 Tips To Prevent ChatGPT From Going Off-Topic

Welcome to The Pen Pivot!

At 9am (EST) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we show content creators how to use AI to produce better content, faster.

In today’s email:  

• AI Tools Of The Day 🛠️ - A ChatGPT chatbot for your own website + automated viral captions for your videos

• AI Content Tip Of The Day🖋️ - Top tips to keep ChatGPT on track.

• AI Bits From The Web 🍬 - Non-programmer builds a video game with ChatGPT and Midjourney (and it’s actually pretty good).

AI Tools Of The Day 🛠️

Chatbase - An AI chatbot builder.

Creators can get a ChatGPT-like chatbot trained on their own content.

Embed it on your website.

It makes it way easier to interact with your audience.

The result?

A much better user experience.

Submagic - An AI-powered video captioning tool.

It generates accurate captions in 48 languages and uses trending templates, auto emojis, highlighted keywords, and auto hashtags.

It’s never been as easy to get that viral aesthetic and wide reach.

Yep, even if you’re not a short-form video maestro.

(Not Sponsored)

AI Content Tip Of The Day 🖋️

6 Tips To Prevent ChatGPT From Going Off-Topic

I’m not a fan of detours, no matter how interesting they may be.

I’d rather get to the destination as fast as possible with no deviations or distractions.

ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard - they’re all susceptible to going on detours if you’re not careful.

Once I asked ChatGPT for help with drafting a blog post on business-casual attire.

It started off well before eventually meandering into the Victorian era’s influence on modern suit designs.

Oh boy.

Kind of relevant, but nowhere near relevant enough.

Editing it was a nightmare and I ended up thinking I would have been better off writing it myself.

So, having wrangled with LLMs like ChatGPT for some time now, I’ve put together a list of tips to prevent it from going off-topic.

Here they are:

1. Use More Detail

The more detailed your prompt, the more accurately ChatGPT can respond.

For example, if you're writing about DSLR photography, "Tell me about photography" won’t get you very far.

Instead, ask something more specific, like "What are the benefits and challenges of using a DSLR camera for portrait photography?"

2. Ask Direct Questions

The way you structure your questions can really influence the output.

Instead of asking open-ended or vague questions, use direct ones.

For example:

"What are the main features and functions of Adobe Photoshop for digital art?"

Is much more effective than…

"Can you tell me about Photoshop and digital art?"

3. Indicate Desired Content Format

Be clear about the format or structure you want your content in.

Let’s say you were writing a video tutorial script.

Try something like "Please provide a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to use presets in Adobe Lightroom."

If you want a response in the form of a list, specify this.

If you want it in the form of a table, specify this.

Don’t get me wrong - there’s more to it.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you’ll know that I often give ChatGPT content outlines with the required subheadings.

I even specify my target audience/desired tone.

But it all starts with a specific, direct sentence establishing exactly what I want and the format I want it in.

4. Effective Follow-Up Questions

If ChatGPT strays from the desired topic, bring it back on track with a pointed follow-up question.

It’ll redirect the conversation back to your main topic.

The question should be tightly linked to your original topic.

Let’s say you're discussing AI in healthcare and ChatGPT strays into talking about general AI history.

Ask a pointed question like, "What specific impact has AI had on medical diagnostics?"

It refocuses ChatGPT on your desired topic, making the eventual response more relevant.

Think of it as a “soft reset” for the chat.

5. Use “Incremental Prompting”

In other words, break it down into bits.

If your subject is complex or broad, consider breaking it down into smaller parts and feeding these to ChatGPT one by one.

For instance, instead of asking for a complete guide on creating a podcast, break it down:

• "What equipment is needed to start a podcast?"

• "What are some tips on scriptwriting for podcasts?"

• "How to market and promote a podcast effectively?"

In fact, you could actually ask ChatGPT what subheadings it would include in the guide.

Then, you’d pick out the subheadings you feel would be most relevant.

Finally, ask it to elaborate on those subheadings one by one.

This is sometimes called “incremental prompting”.

It’s more time-consuming, but a lot more effective.

6. Request A Recap

Another trick to keep ChatGPT focused is asking it to recap or summarize the information it has provided so far.

I do this quite often.

I find it keeps ChatGPT grounded in the topic and reduces the risk of straying in future responses.

For example, halfway through a long explanation, you might ask:

"Can you summarize the main points you've made about using presets in Adobe Lightroom so far?"

Summary:

These tips should stop ChatGPT from straying off-topic.

• Use more detail

• Ask direct questions

• Indicate the desired content format

• Use follow-up questions

• Use incremental prompting

• Ask for recaps

Try them out yourself.

Right now, prompting is an art form.

Honestly, I don’t think it will be forever.

Eventually, LLMs like ChatGPT and Bard will become so effective that detailed prompting won’t even be necessary.

They’ll know exactly what we want even if our prompts are garbage.

For now though, it takes a bit of work.

AI Bits From The Web 🍬 

• 42% of CEOs surveyed at the Yale CEO summit believe that AI could destroy humanity within 5-10 years.

• “Clueless” non-programmer builds a video game with ChatGPT and Midjourney.

• OpenAI and Google may pay media companies up to $20M/yr for news content to power AI models.

• Hundreds attend a church service generated by ChatGPT.

• Midjourney Magic - Cristiano Ronaldo if he was from a different country.

And that’s all for today!

Misya, The Pen Pivot