How to brief AI like a capable new starter

You open an AI chat and type: "Write a LinkedIn post about my workshop." Back comes something like this (an example written for this post, not the output of a real model run):

"Exciting news. I'm thrilled to announce my upcoming workshop, designed to help you reach your full potential. Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up, this is the event you've been waiting for."

It is polished, and it could be anyone's workshop.

To brief AI well, treat it like a capable new starter on their first morning. Before you ask for anything, tell it who the work is for, what done looks like, what to avoid, and show it an example of your own.

How do I write a good prompt for AI?

Think about how you would hand a task to someone bright who joined your business today. You wouldn't say "write a post" and walk off. You would tell them who the post is for, what it needs to achieve, what you never say, and you would probably dig out something you wrote last month and say "like this".

That is all a good prompt is. It is a short brief for one task, written the way you would brief a person. You don't need special phrases, a role for the AI to play, or a page of instructions.

The brief is what you would tell a new starter, written down before you ask.

Why does AI give such generic answers?

A one-line request leaves almost everything open. Who is reading? What should they do next? What tone do you use?

The AI rarely stops to ask, so it fills each gap with the most likely answer, and the most likely answer is the average post by the average business.

A new starter in the same position would at least look worried. Hand them "make it pop" and nothing else on day one, and you would get something bright, busy and wrong, delivered with a hopeful smile. The AI does the same, minus the smile and in seconds.

So the bland answer isn't laziness. It is the AI answering the question you actually asked, which had nobody in it.

The new starter brief: who it's for and what done looks like

The first half of the brief is about the reader and the result. Write a sentence on each before you write the request itself.

Who it's for. Name the reader as specifically as you can. "Small business owners" is a start. "Owners of service businesses who have tried AI, found it generic and are a bit sceptical" gives the AI something to write to.

What done looks like. Say what the finished piece should achieve and roughly what shape it takes. A post that gets the right people to ask about the workshop is a different job from a post that gets lots of likes, and the AI can't tell which you want unless you say.

If there is a deadline, a length or a format you need, put it here too. These details feel too obvious to mention, and that is exactly why they get left out.

The new starter brief: what to avoid, and an example of yours

The second half is about taste. This is the part most people skip, and it is the part that makes the answer sound like you.

What to avoid. AI is much better at steering clear of something you name than at guessing your taste. If you never use exclamation marks, say so. If words like "thrilled" make you wince, list them.

An example of yours. Paste in something you wrote that you were happy with, and say what you like about it. An example carries rhythm, length and tone in a way that adjectives can't, so "write it like this" often does more than a paragraph of description.

Put together, the brief looks like this, and you can reuse it for any single task:

• Task: what you want, in one plain sentence
• Who it's for: the reader, as specifically as you can
• What done looks like: the result, the length and the format
• What to avoid: words, habits and claims you don't want
• An example of yours: something you wrote, and what you like about it

Before and after: the workshop post

Before: "Write a LinkedIn post about my workshop." That gets you the answer at the top of this post.

After: "Write a LinkedIn post about my half-day workshop on using AI for client proposals. It's for consultants and coaches who have tried AI for proposals and got generic results. Done means a short post that makes the right people ask for details, not one that chases likes. Avoid exclamation marks, the words 'thrilled' and 'level up', and any promises about results. Here is a post of mine I liked, for tone: [your post]. I like that it is plain and starts with a real situation."

Here is the kind of reply that brief produces (again, an example written for this post):

"Last month a client showed me a proposal they'd written with AI. It was tidy, well organised and could have been sent by anyone. If that sounds familiar, I'm running a half-day workshop on briefing AI for proposals. It's for consultants and coaches who have already tried it and found the results generic. Message me if you'd like the details."

It still needs your eye, and you might change the opening. But it is now your post with a few edits, not someone else's post that needs rewriting.

What a task brief won't fix

A task brief tells the AI about one job. It doesn't give it the standing facts about your business, such as what you sell, who you serve and what you can prove. That is a separate document you write once and paste in, and it sits underneath every task brief rather than replacing it.

A brief also can't make the AI right about facts it doesn't have. If the post mentions a date or a venue, check it. And if a job is really several jobs, such as a sales page, its emails and its social posts, brief them one at a time rather than packing them into a single request.

One thing to do today

Pick the next task you were going to give AI and write the brief first. Use the outline above, keep it short, and save it somewhere you can find it next time.

If you'd like to go further, our Practical Prompting course covers what to do when an answer is nearly right, how to show rather than describe, and how to break a big job into steps. And if you're not sure where your own gaps are, the AI Readiness Check is a short check of where AI could help your business most, with no account needed.