Prompt
The instruction or question you give to an AI model to get a response.
A prompt is anything you type into an AI — a question, a command, a piece of text you want edited, or even just a topic you want explored. The AI has no memory, no agenda, and no context beyond what you give it. Your prompt is literally everything it has to work with. The quality of what comes out is almost entirely shaped by what goes in — which is why "prompt engineering" has become its own skill.
Think of an AI like a brilliant contractor who shows up with zero background on your project. The prompt is your brief. A vague brief ("make it better") gets a generic result. A specific brief ("rewrite this intro to be sharper and under 50 words") gets exactly what you need.
Many people think longer prompts are always better. Not true — clarity beats length. A focused 20-word prompt often outperforms a rambling 200-word one.