prompt engineering

noun

: the act, practice, or methodology of constructing artificial intelligence prompts (see prompt entry 4 sense 1b(2)) to achieve a desired result efficiently and reliably

… the field of prompt engineering, in which we carefully structure queries to guide the AI to the correct output, aiming to maximise its performance.

—Reza Shahamiri

… requires careful prompt engineering, often across many sessions, to get the results you want.

—Ruben Circelli

We know that AI chatbots can be obsequious and sycophantic at times, but a little prompt engineering can stop that …

—David Nield

—often used before another noun

prompt engineering tools/techniques

prompt engineer noun

plural prompt engineers

Of course, there are AI experts who devote their careers to crafting the best prompts. … But most of us aren't prompt engineers …

—Ben Patterson

Word History

First Known Use

2020, in the meaning defined above