Prompt

Definition: The instruction you give a model — in plain language — to tell it what you want produced. It can be a single sentence or several paragraphs, and its wording shapes the output far more than most people expect.

Why it matters: Output quality depends far more on the prompt than on which model you pick — a vague prompt to a top-tier model often produces worse results than a specific, example-driven prompt to a cheaper one.

Example: "Summarise this report in five bullet points for a non-technical reader" is a prompt — specific about format, length, and audience, not just topic.