prompt engineering

AI in Museums: Reflections, Perspectives and Applications
by Sonja Thiel and Johannes C. Bernhardt
Published 31 Dec 2023

The users transfer the thought in their head (‘Think the image’) into a formulated command (‘Say the image’), which in turn contains everything that ultimately forms the visual result in the urinal, respectively the artwork. In this context, so-called prompt engineering is relevant, which refers to the process of carefully crafting prompts or inputs for a machine learning model in order to achieve a desired output or outcome. This involves designing and refining the inputs given to a model in order to maximize its performance or achieve a specific task or goal.3 The prompt contains the idea and functions as a concept, and prompt engineering is thus the actual artistic act that precedes the resulting work of art. In other words: prompt engineering becomes an actual artistic skill in itself and probably the actual artistic act as such.

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By means of the prompt, the artistic piece is created 3 Prompt engineering is particularly important in natural language processing (NLP), where models are often used to generate text based on the input given. By carefully selecting and tuning the prompts given to these models, researchers and practitioners can control the style, tone, and content of the text generated, and ensure that it is coherent, relevant, and accurate. Yannick Hofmann and Cecilia Preiß: Say the Image, Don’t Make It practically on demand. Against this backdrop, prompt engineering may gain relevance as a future professional field.

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Several AI researchers have issued an open call for a moratorium on the development of large language models such as ChatGPT or GPT for at least six months until further research on the technology has been conducted (Open Letter n.d.). In addition to ethical concerns regarding the data used, there are overarching debates surrounding issues such as the potential loss of jobs, particularly for illustrators, who may feel threatened by the technology of prompt engineering and text-to-image generators. The development of new text-to-image generators could, however, also lead to the emergence of new professions and the enrichment of the field of illustration through creative tools. Furthermore, the creation of fake images poses a risk for politically motivated disinformation campaigns, as demonstrated by prominent examples such as a viral photo of the Pope wearing a Gucci coat or a manipulated image of Donald Trump evading arrest by law enforcement.

A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next
by Tom Standage
Published 16 Aug 2021

In England, the Engineer magazine immediately offered a thousand-guinea prize in a contest to determine the best road vehicle produced in the country. The 1895 race also inspired a similar event in America. Staged in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1895, it was sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald and offered a $5,000 prize. All these competitions prompted engineers and drivers to try to outdo one another, advancing the state of the automotive art and providing publicity for manufacturers, in a motor-racing tradition that has continued ever since. An editorial in the inaugural edition of the Horseless Age, published in New York in November 1895, captured the sudden sense of excitement around the technology in America: The change in public sentiment from indifference to enthusiasm was to occur in an incredibly short period of time.

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma
by Mustafa Suleyman
Published 4 Sep 2023

There are literally hundreds of roles where this single skill alone is the core requirement, and yet there is so much more to come from AI. Yes, it’s almost certain that many new job categories will be created. Who would have thought that “influencer” would become a highly sought-after role? Or imagined that in 2023 people would be working as “prompt engineers”—nontechnical programmers of large language models who become adept at coaxing out specific responses? Demand for masseurs, cellists, and baseball pitchers won’t go away. But my best guess is that new jobs won’t come in the numbers or timescale to truly help. The number of people who can get a PhD in machine learning will remain tiny in comparison to the scale of layoffs.

On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything
by Nate Silver
Published 12 Aug 2024

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT playing against themselves: David Silver et al., “Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithm,” arXiv, December 5, 2017, arxiv.org/abs/1712.01815. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT ChatGPT said verbatim: With some minor cuts for length. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT some deliberate randomization: Eric Glover, “Controlled Randomness in LLMs/ChatGPT with Zero Temperature: A Game Changer for Prompt Engineering,” AppliedIngenuity.ai: Practical AI Solutions (blog), May 12, 2023, appliedingenuity.substack.com/p/controlled-randomness-in-llmschatgpt. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT it’s come closer: Per conversation with Stuart Russell. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Participants were asked: Ezra Karger et al., “Forecasting Existential Risks: Evidence from a Long-Run Forecasting Tournament,” Forecasting Research Institute, July 10, 2023, static1.squarespace.com/static/635693acf15a3e2a14a56a4a/t/64f0a7838ccbf43b6b5ee40c/1693493128111/XPT.pdf.

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion ofSafety
by Eric Schlosser
Published 16 Sep 2013

Robert Oppenheimer (New York: Vintage Books, 2006)—uses the genius, idealism, contradictions, and hypocrisy of one man to shed light on an entire era of American history. Perhaps my favorite book about nuclear weapons is one of the most beautifully written and concise. John McPhee’s The Curve of Binding Energy (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1974) not only has great literary merit, it also prompted engineers at Sandia to confront the possibility that terrorists might try to steal a nuclear weapon. Martin J. Sherwin and John McPhee were both professors of mine a long time ago, and the integrity of their work, the scholarship and ambition, set a high standard to which I’ve aspired ever since. A number of other writers and historians influenced my view of how nuclear weapons affected postwar America.