Google's new AI course will teach you to write more effective prompts - in 5 steps

AI tools -- like people -- cannot read minds. As a result, they need effective communication to carry out tasks. When using AI models, that communication is called a prompt, which humans input into a chatbot to get a certain outcome. Productive prompting is a key to successful interaction with AI, and Google's new course is designed to foster that. 

On Monday, Google launched Prompting Essentials --  a course developed by the AI experts at Google and DeepMind -- that teaches users techniques to prompt AI tools effectively. According to Google, this course builds on AI Essentials, launched in April, which has become the most popular generative AI course on Coursera ever.

Also: 6 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts - and get the results you want faster

"Google's Prompting Essentials course, developed by Google experts with input from leading companies, equips people at all experience levels with the skills to prompt AI tools for increased productivity, creativity, and problem-solving at work and in everyday life," said Lisa Gevelber, founder of Grow with Google.

The self-paced course is 10 hours long and requires no previous experience. Students will use a five-step prompting framework to learn the basics of prompting, including creating personalized AI agents, summarizing lengthy documents, brainstorming ideas, analyzing data, and more, according to Google. 

AI models can be very capable, but if you don't know how to use them properly or ask the right commands, you won't be able to unlock their full potential. With this course, users will learn how to maximize their use of AI models and tools so that they can improve nearly every step of their workflows, Google said. 

Also: Google's Gems are a gentle introduction to AI prompt engineering

The Prompting Essentials course, like the AI Essentials course, is available now on the Coursera website for $49. Upon completing the courses, users will receive a certificate from Google. If this is out of your price range, there are free prompting resources available, such as Anthropic's free prompt library and Google's free blog series.