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Antonio Zambo
Antonio Zambo

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The End of Prompt Engineering and the Rise of Prompt Thinking

#ai #promptengineering #llm #startup

The AI community has become obsessed with prompt engineering. Twitter threads dissect the perfect system prompt. LinkedIn influencers share their "revolutionary" ChatGPT hacks. YouTube gurus promise to unlock AI's hidden potential with one weird trick.

But here's my opinion: most prompt engineering advice is becoming obsolete.

The Death of "Act As" and "Think Step by Step"

Remember when "act as a x" or "think step by step" transformed your results, Those days are fading fast. As reasoning models like o1 and o3 emerge, LLMs are getting dramatically better at interpreting casual, conversational prompts.The skill of traditional prompt engineering is gradually decreasing in value. But that doesn't mean prompt engineering is dead.

The 1% Compound Effect

Here's where the real insight emerges. Let me show you with a concrete example.

Basic prompt:

Create a Planetary Orbit Simulation with HTML

Enhanced prompt with prompt alchemy labs

Create a Planetary Orbit Simulation using HTML and JavaScript. The simulation should visually represent the orbits of multiple planets around a central star. Include the following features:

  1. Planets: At least three different planets with varying sizes and colors
  2. Orbits: Display elliptical orbits with appropriate scaling
  3. Animation: Implement smooth animation to show the planets orbiting the star
  4. Controls: Add controls to start, pause, and reset the simulation
  5. Responsive Design: Ensure the simulation adjusts to different screen sizes

Please provide the complete code, including HTML structure, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for functionality.

The prompt is 10x if not 100x better, but the output is marginally better. The significance lies in understanding compound effects. As people spend increasing amounts of time with LLMs, and as these tools begin replacing traditional search engines, even tiny improvements become meaningful. If responses are just 1% better and save 1% of our time, that difference compounds over thousands of interactions.

This does not mean we all need to drop what we are doing and master prompt engineering Absolutely not. A 1% improvement wont matter if you spend 50% more time prompting. However tools such as prompt alchemy labs, customGPT, or prompt genius will become revolutianize how we talk to LLMS since they capture incremental gains with just one or two clicks.

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