institute for
health transformation
and digital health
Joaquim Cardoso MSc.
Chief Research and Strategy Officer (CRSO),
Chief Editor and Senior Advisor
August 31, 2023
What is the message?
The article asserts that AI’s potential is best harnessed through expert-driven prompts, not just data accumulation.
It argues that the focus on data overlooks the importance of human expertise encoded in prompts, which can guide AI systems effectively.
The author proposes the creation of “grimoires,” or libraries of expert prompts, as a way to democratize specialized knowledge and enable AI to be a tool for innovation, learning, and mentorship.
One page summary:
In the article titled “Now is the Time for Grimoires”, Ethan Mollick discusses a shift in the way we approach AI and its potential.
In the past, AI development relied heavily on amassing vast amounts of data to train machine learning algorithms. However, Mollick argues that the future of AI is not solely dependent on data but rather on the expertise of human professionals.
While the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 has led many to believe that data remains paramount, Mollick contends that the emphasis on data overlooks a more crucial aspect: the formulation of expert-driven prompts.
He introduces the concept of “grimoires,” which are essentially spellbooks containing prompts that encode specialized knowledge and expertise. These prompts serve as interactive instructions for LLMs to provide valuable insights and guidance.
Mollick stresses that these expert prompts are not the same as complex “prompt engineering.” Instead, he advocates for prompts that encapsulate deep subject expertise in a format that can be utilized by others.
He offers an example from education, highlighting how effective tutoring involves not just conveying information, but engaging learners in a meaningful process that connects new knowledge to existing understanding.
To illustrate the concept, Mollick presents a detailed expert prompt for tutoring, demonstrating how such prompts can facilitate a structured and effective learning experience. He emphasizes that creating grimoires doesn’t require coding skills, but rather expertise in the subject, familiarity with AI models, and a clear vision of the desired outcome.
Mollick proposes that organizations should shift their focus from accumulating more data to building libraries of expert prompts. These “grimoires” could encapsulate best practices and expert insights, enabling the scaling of specialized knowledge within the organization.
Mollick also envisions large-scale public libraries of prompts created by experts and available for free to users. These prompts could turn LLMs into powerful tools for innovation, learning, and mentorship on a massive scale.
In conclusion, Mollick advocates for a paradigm shift in AI development from data-driven models to expertise-driven prompts. He believes that the power of AI lies not in its data processing capacity alone, but in its ability to interact with human expertise, democratizing innovation and learning across various domains.
DEEP DIVE
This summary was written based on the article “Now is the time for grimoires”, published by One Useful Thing, written by Eyhan Mollick, on August 20, 2023.
To read the full article, access https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/now-is-the-time-for-grimoires?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
