Prompt
The instruction or question you give an AI tool, usually typed in ordinary language. It tells the system what you want it to do.
A prompt is simply what you type into a chatbot or image tool. It can be a short question, such as "What is the capital of Australia?", or a longer request with details about tone, length and audience.
Clearer prompts usually give better results. "Write a recipe" is vague. "Write a simple vegetarian dinner recipe for two people, ready in 30 minutes, using ingredients from an ordinary supermarket" gives the tool much more to work with. Adding background, an example of what you want, or the format you need (a list, a short paragraph) often helps.
You do not need special tricks or secret phrases to use AI well. Writing a prompt is closer to briefing a helpful assistant than to programming. If the first answer misses the mark, it is normal to follow up and ask for changes.
Related: Chatbot, Large language model (LLM), Context window