AI Mistakes To Avoid: Google Search vs AI Prompting Is A Different Language

For the uninitiated, when I say AI in this article I’m specifically talking about the generative family of AI models.

There are many different types of AI in our world.

Don’t let all the snazzy marketing campaigns fool you. To work with conversational Gen AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-pilot, Google Gemini and the rest we must use a prompt.

A prompt is just an instruction.

You send an instruction to the tools database which then runs that query. No need to overcomplicate it here. Prompts need to provide a detailed, context-rich instruction or question to guide the AI in generating a specific response or performing a task. Someone classed this as prompt engineering.

There’s no actual engineering involved, fyi. Unless you class crafting words as engineering.

Ernst Hemingway might disagree.

The effectiveness of any conversational AI's response heavily depends on how well the prompt is crafted. I cannot not overstate this. As of 2024, I’m sure this will be etched onto my grave.

A well-structured prompt will lead the AI through a step-by-step reasoning process, helping it understand the context better, and generate more accurate and relevant outputs.

If you want to get nerdier, you can deploy techniques like chaining prompts, where complex tasks are broken down into simpler prompts, and guided reasoning.

Like I said, it has a sort of language and art to it.

One that’s always evolving.

Google search terms

Using search terms on Google, on the other hand, involves entering keywords or phrases to find information that already exists on the internet.

The effectiveness of your search results depends on the choice of keywords and how well they match the content available online. So, if the marketer was smart enough to stuff their article with those key words, they win the search lottery.

Google's algorithms analyse these keywords to retrieve and rank web pages based on relevance, quality, and other factors.

Unlike prompting an AI, where the goal is to generate new content or responses based on the input, using search terms on Google is about finding existing information.

⏱️ In sum: Prompting an AI and using search terms on Google serve different purposes and involve different processes. While AI prompting is about generating new content based on structured input, using search terms is about finding existing information through keyword matching.

Get this right to open better opportunities for harmonious AI collaboration in your work.

Want more?

This is just a snippet of a huge guide I've written on the topic.

If you want to learn:

• How the LMS and LXP searches content
• How to unbundle yourself from Google searching with AI tools
• The universal AI prompt framework for critical L&D tasks

→ Access the full version now.

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