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Spark & Whetstonethe grown-up commons

← Thinking with Machines · Lesson 1 of 4

Say what you mean

A tool that writes back to you answers the question you asked, not the one you meant. If you ask for "a short summary", it has to guess how short, for whom and what to leave out.

Writing a good request is the same skill as writing a good brief for a person: the goal, who it is for, what a good answer looks like, and what must not change.

A useful habit is to write the request, then read it as a stranger would. Anything a stranger would have to guess, the tool will guess too.

One question

Which request leaves the tool the least to guess?

Say it back
A lesson is kept once you've answered the question and written at least 8 words. Nobody grades it; it stays on this device.