For a long time, I assumed my AI problems were technical.
When outputs missed the mark, I blamed phrasing. I tweaked prompts, added constraints, and searched for better formulas. The assumption was simple: if I could just ask better, AI would deliver better.
That wasn’t the issue.
What I needed wasn’t better prompts. It was better intent.
Prompts reflect intent — they don’t replace it
A prompt can’t fix an unclear goal.
If you don’t know what decision an output supports, what constraints matter, or how the result will be used, AI has no stable target. It fills the gap with guesswork.
Better wording only hides that problem temporarily.
Clear intent simplified everything
Once I defined intent explicitly, prompts got shorter.
Instead of focusing on phrasing, I clarified:
- What problem I was solving
- What success looked like
- What would make the output unusable
With those answers in place, AI outputs became more relevant — even with minimal prompting.
Framing matters more than formatting
I stopped optimizing how things were said and started optimizing why they were said.
Intent lives upstream of the prompt. It shapes context, constraints, and evaluation criteria. When intent was solid, formatting issues became minor. When intent was weak, no amount of structure helped.
Intent creates alignment, not control
Trying to control AI through prompts led to overengineering.
Setting intent created alignment instead.
AI responded better when it understood purpose rather than instructions. The interaction felt less like command-and-control and more like guided collaboration.
Better intent made evaluation easier
With clear intent, reviewing outputs became straightforward.
I could quickly see whether the result served the goal or missed it. There was no need to overanalyze tone or wording. The question was simple: does this move the task forward?
That clarity reduced iteration and improved confidence.
Why intent is the real leverage
Prompting is a surface skill.
Intent setting is foundational.
This is why learning approaches like those emphasized by Coursiv focus on task framing and decision clarity rather than prompt tricks. Because intent transfers. Prompts don’t.
Once intent is strong, AI becomes easier to work with — not because it changed…
…but because your thinking did.
Top comments (0)