This is gold. THANK YOU.

You're welcome! Please share examples of how it's helped

the problem i've had with this approach is that the 'initial prompt' that is generated doesn't convey the approach or purpose of the statement to a degree that the next prompt chain can jump in, it often produces stuff that looks like a sales slogan or pitch rather than a cohesive instruction set similar to a prompt.

i'm using free gpt3.5 or whichever the openai free tier is at the moment.

> i'm using free gpt3.5 or whichever the openai free tier is at the moment.

This is your problem. Different between 3.5 and 4 is huge. I think OpenAI might even doing themselves a disservice by having 3.5 online in ChatGPT, as many think free 3.5 represent GPT overall.

Definitely upgrade to GPT-4, night and day difference in quality.

But how did you optimize this prompt?

Really any similar meta prompt will work, the key is you're getting the LLM to give you an optimized prompt. Try getting creative with how you ask for the optimized prompt.

And just think how wonderful it is that that approach works. How many people would be able to tell you "This is how you should tell me what to do " both appropriately and without getting annoyed at the request?

Does it actually know how it should be promoted (through introspection and reflection)? Or is it pattern matching the countless articles/tweets on prompt engineering?

I think this distinction is important as the latter feels less worthy of the praise you’re suggesting.

Yes, that is an important distinction.

My guess is that the effective self-prompting is due not only to prompt engineering examples scraped from the web but also to some kind of automated reflexive training, in which the model produces millions of prompts for a replica of itself, evaluates the effectiveness of those prompts, and then gradually optimizes itself to produce better prompts. Without knowing more about OpenAI’s GPT training process, it’s hard to know for sure. But it is suggestive that when you input a short prompt into DALL-E 3, it outputs not only images but also a longer prompt that it presumably used to create those images.

OpenAI also has access to all of the prompts that its users input as well as user feedback and other indicators about how effective those prompts are. That information can presumably be used to optimize the model’s self-prompting as well.

Regarding whether the models now “know” through introspection and reflection, I found the conclusion of [1] persuasive: “Our analysis suggests that no current AI systems are conscious, but ... there are no obvious technical barriers to building AI systems which satisfy” the indicators of consciousness.

[1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708

Similar to the chinese room, is it actually understanding or is it simulating understanding?

So it gives me the response below - and it seems its just training me to think and write better about my problem requirements (refinement in my company parlance):

    I'm ready to assist you as PromptGPT, your expert in crafting efficient
    and effective prompts for interacting with GPT models. To create the best
    possible prompts, I will need to know the following details about each
    thread you wish to initiate:

    Expert Persona: The specific expertise or role you want the GPT model to
    assume (e.g., a legal advisor, a fitness coach, a historian, etc.).

    Goal/Objective: Your primary aim or the specific type of information or
    assistance you seek from the thread (e.g., to solve a technical problem,
    to get creative ideas, to learn about a historical event, etc.).

    Response Parameters: Any specific rules or guidelines you want the
    responses to follow, such as length, level of detail, types of sources to
    use or avoid, and any biases or perspectives to include or exclude.

    Tone of Voice: The desired style or attitude of the responses
    (e.g., formal, casual, humorous, empathetic, etc.).

    Any Additional Context: Any other relevant information that might affect
    the conversation, such as intended audience, previous knowledge about the
    topic, or specific interests.

    Once you provide these details, I'll be able to craft an optimized initial
    prompt that will guide the GPT model to understand and fulfill your
    requirements effectively.

You'll get a different response each time, but the point is to now give it your goals as described for the prompt you want, it will give you back an optimized prompt you can start a new conversation with.