You’ve heard about how AI can be more than just a tool – it can also be your collaborative partner. But how do you put that abstract concept into concrete practice? And how do you avoid using ChatGPT and other AI-based writing tools to churn out text that gets the job done but at the cost of sacrificing your unique voice for generic, AI-generated blandness?
Enter the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, a simple and practical approach for engaging in truly collaborative writing with AI in a way that keeps you in the driver’s seat and leverages AI as your muse and assistant – not your replacement. It’s a technique and mindset that ensures your written pieces scream “you” from start to finish, while taking full advantage of the speed and idea-generating power of AI.
AI-Generated Text: Fast and Bland
Have you ever wondered how most writers are using AI today? It’s like having a supercharged typewriter that doesn’t just type but also thinks – sort of. Writers feed a topic, and voilà, the AI spits out paragraphs. Sounds magical, right? But here’s the rub: while these AI tools are fast and know how to churn out text that’s grammatical and on-point, they often miss the mark on one crucial element – the writer’s unique voice.
I’m sure you’ve read an article and felt that it could have been written by anyone, anywhere. That’s the AI conundrum – efficiency at the cost of personality. Your voice, the very essence that makes your writing distinctly yours, gets lost in translation. And the reader leaves the experience feeling like they’ve just eaten unsalted popcorn.
Yet the power of today’s AI, driven by large language models (LLMs), holds out the promise of being the most powerful innovation for the creation and dissemination of the written word since the Gutenberg printing press – if only we as writers could figure out how to leverage AI for what it does best without sacrificing the personal touch that imbues our work with our own unique spirit.
Enter the “Interview Me” prompting strategy – a fresh approach that promises to keep your writing as authentically you as your handwritten signature.
What is the “Interview Me” Prompting Strategy?
So, what exactly is the “Interview Me” prompting strategy”? Think of it as having a conversation with your AI, but with a twist. Instead of just asking the AI to write something for you, you turn the tables. You become the interviewee, and the AI, your interviewer.
Here’s the crux of it: The strategy involves a two-step dance. First, the AI asks you questions about your topic – not just the what, but the how and why. These questions are designed to dig deep, to unearth your unique insights and perspectives on the subject. It’s like peeling an onion, layer by intriguing layer, revealing the core of your thoughts.
The second step? The AI takes your responses and transforms them into a structured outline. It’s not creating content on its own; it’s organizing and refining your ideas. Think of it as a skilled and supportive writing coach who listens to your ideas – the essence of your work – and helps to draw them out from you without ever substituting his own vision or voice. Your ideas, your voice, your style – they’re all there, just more polished and coherent.
If you want to enlist the AI in wordsmithing as well, you can do that using the same “Interview Me” approach, but that is optional. You might choose instead to use the outline as a launchpad from which to write your piece the old fashioned way (no quill and inkwell required).
What sets the “Interview Me Prompting Strategy” apart from standard AI writing methods is that it is designed to help you to write better, not to do the writing for you. You’re always in control, always the primary author. The AI is just there to elicit, organize, and enhance your ideas and natural storytelling abilities.
Benefits of the Interview Me Prompting Strategy
Why use the “Interview Me” prompting strategy? Here’s the standout benefits this approach brings to your writing table:
- Keeping Your Voice in the Limelight: The biggest win? Your voice doesn’t just survive; it thrives. Every word, every sentence reflects your unique style and personality. It’s like having a personal editor who knows exactly how to amplify your voice without changing it.
- Supercharged Brainstorming: Ever feel stuck staring at a blank page? The AI’s questions in this strategy work like a brainstorming session on steroids. They prompt you to think deeper, explore new angles, and uncover ideas you didn’t even know you had. It’s like having a muse that knows exactly which buttons to push.
- Clarity Like Never Before: Confused thoughts? Scattered ideas? The AI sorts them out. By organizing your responses into a coherent outline, the AI helps bring a crystal-clear focus to your narrative. It’s like putting on glasses and seeing your ideas in 20/20 vision for the first time.
- Synergy with AI: This puts the lofty goal of human-AI collaboration into a simple, practical, and concrete form. You bring the creative genius; the AI brings its organizational prowess, speed, and ceaseless energy. Together, you create something neither could achieve alone. It’s a partnership where 1 + 1 equals 3.
The “Interview Me” prompting strategy creates a partnership where your unique voice and ideas take center stage, guided and sharpened by AI’s organizational skills and indefatigable energy. It guarantees a writing process where your personal style is not only preserved but celebrated, your brainstorming sessions are invigorated, and your thoughts are crystalized with clarity.
Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing the Strategy
At this point, I’m sure you’re asking, “Where is this ‘Interview Me’ prompting strategy you’ve been promising and how do I put it into action?” Here’s your step-by-step guide to making AI your writing sidekick while keeping your voice front and center:
- Setting the Stage: Start by introducing your topic to the AI. Be clear about your main idea or question. This sets the direction for the AI’s questions and ensures relevance.
- Initiating the Interview: This is the heart of the method. Instruct the AI to interview you. Tell it to ask you questions whose answers would be helpful in creating the best possible document about your topic, and not to do any writing itself unless and until you explicitly ask it to do so. By doing this, you prod the AI to be your coach and assistant, rather than your replacement.
- The Interview Begins: Engage with the AI as it starts questioning you about your topic. These questions are designed to explore various dimensions of your subject. Think of it as a friendly interrogation, where each question nudges your creativity and thought process. Feel free to tell the AI that some questions are irrelevant if that’s the case.
- Your Responses, Your Goldmine: Answer the AI’s questions as thoroughly as possible. Your responses are the raw materials from which your masterpiece will be sculpted. Don’t hold back – the more detailed your answers, the richer the content for your outline. (Bonus: ask the AI to suggest potential answers if you get stuck.)
- Crafting the Outline: Once the interview is complete, ask the AI to organize your responses into an outline or a list of key topics or ideas. This is where the AI’s ability to structure and categorize comes into play. You’ll see your scattered thoughts transform into a clear, logical structure.
- Refinement and Personalization: Go through the AI-generated outline. Here’s where you add your final touches, refine ideas, and ensure everything aligns perfectly with your vision, whether manually or in collaboration with the AI. It’s your work, with the AI as your assistant, ensuring the end product is polished and cohesive.
Remember, the magic of this strategy lies in the partnership between your creative mind and the AI’s organizational skills. It’s about turning the AI from a writer into a facilitator of your writing process.
Overcoming Challenges and Limitations
Embracing the “Interview Me” prompting strategy sounds exciting, and I’ve personally benefited from it, but let’s address the elephant in the room – challenges and limitations. Here’s how to navigate these waters:
- Initial Learning Curve: Getting the hang of this strategy might take a moment. It’s a bit like learning to dance. At first, you might step on a few toes – yours and the AI’s. But with practice, the rhythm and flow will come naturally. The good news is that the AI won’t get impatient with you along the way.
- Optimizing AI Interaction: Not every AI question will hit the bullseye. Sometimes, you might need to nudge the AI or rephrase your answers to get to the core of your ideas. It’s a collaborative effort, and like any good team, you and the AI will need to find your groove.
- AI Limitations: Remember, AI is brilliant but not infallible. It might misinterpret nuances or lack the depth of human experience. Be prepared to fill in these gaps. Your expertise and personal touch are what bring life to the AI’s structure.
- Fine-Tuning Your Responses: The quality of your AI-assisted outline hinges on your responses. Be as detailed and clear as possible, while speaking in your own voice. The AI can’t read your mind (yet!), so the more you give, the more you get.
- Patience is Key: Like any good craft, writing with AI takes patience. There will be trial and error, but each iteration is a step toward a masterpiece.
The key takeaway? The “Interview Me” prompting strategy is a new and powerful arrow to add to your quiver, not a silver bullet. It won’t do all of the work for you or be perfect, but if you came here because you were looking for an approach that doesn’t cede your agency or voice to AI, you probably won’t mind a process that can be messy and imperfect.
Here’s to Co-Creating
The “Interview Me” prompting strategy is now yours to explore and master. Happy writing, and here’s to the fantastic stories you’re about to unfold in your wondrous and unique voice – with just a little help along the way.
Bonus Content: A Transcript of the “Interview Me” Prompting Strategy in Action
A picture paints a thousand words, and nothing conveys a prompting strategy better than seeing it in use. Although I didn’t write the article above using the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, the actual transcript below of a chat between me and ChatGPT (using GPT-4) illustrates the strategy in action:
Robert
You are an expert in writing clear, compelling, engaging, and conversational blog articles that convey ideas. You will help me to write a blog article about a new prompting strategy that I have developed for prompting AI tools, such as ChatGPT, that use large language models (LLMs). I call the new prompting strategy the “Interview Me” prompting strategy. In the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, the human user instructs the AI tool to interview the human user about a topic to be written about, for the purpose of helping the human user to write an article about that topic. To help me to write my article about the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, you will interview me by asking me questions whose answers would be helpful in writing an article about the “Interview Me” prompting strategy that is as clear, compelling, engaging, and conversational as possible. Don’t do any writing unless and until I explicitly ask you to do so. Before we begin, please confirm your understanding of the task you are to perform.
ChatGPT
Understood. You’ve developed a new prompting strategy called “Interview Me,” designed for AI tools like ChatGPT. This strategy involves the AI interviewing the user about a specific topic, with the goal of aiding the user in writing an article on that topic. To assist in crafting a clear, compelling, and engaging blog article about this strategy, I will interview you. The questions will focus on details that can enhance the understanding and appeal of your “Interview Me” strategy. Let’s begin.
- Can you describe the main inspiration or problem that led to the creation of the “Interview Me” prompting strategy?
- How does this strategy specifically improve the process of writing an article compared to traditional methods?
- Could you share an example where this strategy significantly aided in article writing?
- What feedback, if any, have you received from others who have used this strategy?
- Are there particular types of topics or articles where you find this strategy especially effective?
- How do you envision users incorporating the “Interview Me” strategy into their workflow?
- What challenges, if any, have you encountered while using this strategy, and how have you addressed them?
- Do you have any tips or best practices for users new to this strategy?
- How do you see this strategy evolving or being refined in the future?
Robert
The main inspirations and problems that led to the creation of the “Interview Me” prompting strategy are:
(1) the frustration with the bland, voiceless written output generated by most AI tools;
(2) the desire, as a writer, to create written works in my own unique voice;
(3) the desire to obtain the benefits of AI writing tools, but without sacrificing my own unique voice;
(4) the lack of existing prompting strategies which can be used to enable AI writing tools to generate text in my own unique voice.
This strategy specifically improves the process of writing an article compared to traditional methods in the following ways:
(1) this strategy enables a human writer to use AI writing tools to elicit ideas from the human writer, to organize the human writer’s thoughts, and to brainstorm ideas for the human writer, all under the direction of the human writer and without substituting the voice of the AI for the human writer’s voice;
(2) this strategy enables the human writer to obtain the speed and idea-generating benefits of AI writing tools, without sacrificing the human’s writer’s voice;
(3) this strategy produces outlines and other high-level content that the human writer can use as a guideline for writing his or her own content, rather than generating the final written content for the human writer;
(4) this approach puts the human writer in the driver’s seat and enables the human writer to drive the writing process, with the AI writing tool playing the role of a skilled and competent coach or assistant, rather than a substitute writer.
This strategy is particularly useful for writing short non-fiction works that follow a clear outline structure, such as how-to articles and articles that explain complex ideas by breaking them down into smaller pieces. The strategy can, however, be used for creating other kinds of written works.
I envision users incorporating the “Interview Me” strategy into their workflow by using it after they have come up with the core idea for an article, and when they want to flesh out and explore that idea, before they have started writing the article in detail. The strategy is particularly useful for helping users to create outlines for articles.
Challenges that I have encountered include:
(1) it can take a while to become comfortable using this strategy, because it is different from traditional solitary writing and from the techniques that are now being used to prompt AI tools to generate drafts of documents. I have dealt with this by engaging in repeated short experiments to explore the strategy and gain comfort with it.
(2) Sometimes the AI tool does not understand what idea I am trying to convey. I have dealt with this by learning to clarify my ideas when communicating with the AI tool and by correcting the AI tool when it misunderstands me.
(3) AI tools are better at helping with well-known topics than with obscure topics. I have dealt with this by providing the AI tool with background information about obscure topics when necessary.
My tips and best practices for users who are new to this strategy:
(1) in the beginning, view the process as an experiment and try it a few times with “throw away” topics that you don’t care about, for the purpose of learning how to use the strategy;
(2) To enable the AI to become a good interviewer of you, think about the questions you would ask someone if you were interviewing them to help them write something for themselves.
(3) Don’t be shy about correcting the AI, ignoring any of its suggestions that you don’t like, or ignoring any of its questions that aren’t helpful to you. Remember that you are in charge.
I see this strategy evolving in the future by being combined with other prompting strategies. This strategy is intended to be a tool, not an all-encompassing approach to writing. Do you have any other questions for me? Do not write anything unless and until I explicitly ask you to do so.
ChatGPT
Thank you for providing detailed insights into the “Interview Me” strategy. Your answers offer a comprehensive understanding of its purpose, application, and potential evolution. If you have any specific aspects you’d like to delve into further or if there’s another direction you want to take this conversation, please let me know. I’m ready to assist with any additional questions or clarifications you might need.
Robert
Please prepare a clear and well-organized list of the key topics and ideas that should be covered in the blog article about the “Interview Me” prompting strategy. This does not yet need to be an outline for the article. It can just be a list of topics and ideas for my review.
ChatGPT
Certainly, here is a list of key topics and ideas to consider for your blog article on the “Interview Me” prompting strategy:
- Introduction to AI Writing Tools
- Overview of existing AI writing tools and their typical uses.
- Common limitations of AI-generated content, focusing on lack of personal voice and uniqueness.
- Inspiration Behind ‘Interview Me’ Strategy
- Your personal experiences and frustrations with AI tools’ output.
- The quest for maintaining a unique, personal voice in AI-assisted writing.
- Concept and Mechanics of ‘Interview Me’
- Detailed explanation of the ‘Interview Me’ strategy.
- How it differs from traditional prompting methods.
- Benefits of ‘Interview Me’ Strategy
- Eliciting personal ideas and organizing thoughts.
- Maintaining the human writer’s voice while using AI for brainstorming and outlining.
- The role of AI as a coach or assistant rather than a primary content creator.
- Ideal Use Cases and Application
- Types of writing projects best suited for ‘Interview Me’, such as how-to articles and complex idea breakdowns.
- Stages in the writing process where ‘Interview Me’ is most effective.
- Incorporating ‘Interview Me’ into Writing Workflows
- Practical tips on when and how to use ‘Interview Me’ in the writing process.
- Examples of integrating this strategy post-idea generation and pre-detailed writing.
- Challenges and Solutions
- Overcoming the learning curve and initial discomfort.
- Strategies for improving communication and clarification with AI.
- Dealing with AI’s limitations on obscure or complex topics.
- Tips and Best Practices for New Users
- Starting with experimental, low-stakes topics.
- Thinking like an interviewer to get the most out of the AI.
- Being assertive in guiding the AI’s direction and inputs.
- Future of ‘Interview Me’ and its Integration with Other Strategies
- Potential developments and refinements.
- How ‘Interview Me’ can complement other prompting strategies.
- Conclusion
- Summarize the potential impact of ‘Interview Me’ on AI-assisted writing.
- Encourage readers to experiment with and adapt the strategy to their needs.
Feel free to review and modify this list as needed to align with your vision for the article.
Robert
That is very good, except that you can omit the “Overview of existing AI writing tools and their typical uses.” The reader will know about these. Now propose a detailed outline of the blog article. The outline should be designed to capture and maintain the reader’s attention throughout, and should have a logical flow that makes it easy for the reader to follow in order to learn about the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, its motivations, its benefits, and how to use it.
ChatGPT
Certainly! Here’s a detailed outline for your blog article on the “Interview Me” prompting strategy, tailored to maintain reader engagement and provide a clear, logical flow of information:
Title: Revolutionize Your Writing with the “Interview Me” Prompting Strategy
Introduction
- Brief Introduction to AI-Assisted Writing
- Acknowledge the reader’s familiarity with AI writing tools.
- Introduce the concept of enhancing AI writing with personal voice.
The Genesis of ‘Interview Me’
- Personal Frustrations with AI Writing Outputs
- Discuss the blandness and lack of personality in standard AI-generated content.
- The Quest for Personal Voice in AI-Assisted Writing
- Emphasize the importance of maintaining the writer’s unique voice.
Unveiling the ‘Interview Me’ Strategy
- Definition and Overview
- Explain the ‘Interview Me’ concept succinctly.
- How It Works
- Step-by-step description of implementing the strategy.
Key Benefits of ‘Interview Me’
- Preserving the Writer’s Voice
- Emphasize how the strategy maintains personal voice and style.
- Enhancing Creativity and Idea Generation
- Discuss how the strategy aids in brainstorming and organizing thoughts.
- The Role of AI as a Facilitator
- AI as a coach or assistant, not the primary writer.
When and How to Use ‘Interview Me’
- Ideal Scenarios for Application
- Discuss types of articles and writing stages suitable for the strategy.
- Integrating ‘Interview Me’ into the Writing Process
- Practical examples and tips for implementation.
Overcoming Challenges and Hurdles
- Getting Comfortable with the Strategy
- Tips for easing into the use of ‘Interview Me’.
- Communicating Effectively with AI
- How to clarify and guide the AI’s understanding and responses.
- Handling AI Limitations
- Strategies for dealing with less familiar or complex topics.
Practical Tips for First-Time Users
- Starting with Experimental Topics
- Encourage trials with low-stakes subjects.
- Thinking Like an Interviewer
- Guide on how to frame questions and guide the AI.
- Being the Driver in the AI Interaction
- Emphasize the importance of user control and direction.
The Future of ‘Interview Me’
- Potential Evolutions and Refinements
- Speculate on how the strategy might grow and improve.
- Synergy with Other Prompting Strategies
- Discuss how ‘Interview Me’ can be combined with other approaches.
Conclusion
- Summarizing the Impact
- Recap the benefits and potential of the ‘Interview Me’ strategy.
- Call to Action
- Encourage readers to try the strategy and share their experiences.
Additional Resources
- Links to Examples or Case Studies
- Provide real or hypothetical examples of ‘Interview Me’ in action.
- Further Reading
- Suggest articles or resources for more information on AI writing and personal voice.
This structure aims to engage the reader by addressing the common pain points in AI writing, introducing the ‘Interview Me’ strategy as a novel solution, and providing practical advice for implementation and overcoming challenges.
