Prompt Engineering: The Future of AI Job Market or Just a Trend?
ChatGPT was released to the public on November 30th, 2022, and it marks the start of a new era in AI. Large Language Models (LLMs) have become really popular and many companies are trying to use AI to improve their operations. Industries like tech, publishing, accounting, and legal already experienced a significant impact, with many more industries likely to be affected soon. Generally, the industries working with a vast amount of information is going to be the most impacted by this trend.
Following such growing demand for AI, the ability to properly feed AI models with information has become as important. That’s where “Prompt Engineering” comes in — a new type of job to ensure the AI models are fed with the right “prompts” to satisfy business requirements. But does prompt engineering play a key role in the future of AI job market?
What is prompt engineering?
Prompt engineering refers to the process of writing concise, comprehensible, and effective prompts that direct an AI system towards a specific outcome or decision. This is done by providing the AI model with a sequence of input prompts that enable it to recognize patterns and connections in data and generate predictions based on that information. Generally, I see two primary objectives for prompt engineering:
The first objective of prompt engineering is to devise text-based inputs that can guide the AI model more effectively. Prompt engineers provide the model with various inputs and then evaluate the output. If the output does not meet the expected level of precision, prompt engineers collaborate with developers to fine-tune the model. For instance, the model may be required not to use any any aggressive tone or avoid expressing any political viewpoint, and it must also be safeguarded against threats like prompt injection.
In the second scenario, different industries engage prompt engineers to write text inputs that will provide the optimized results while meeting domain requirements. For example, in the healthcare industry, it is critical that the AI model does not leak any personal or confidential information. Another example is developing efficient prompts to get the most out of the model while utilizing the fewest number of tokens to minimize the cost of utilizing the AI model.
What skills are required for a prompt engineer?
There are essential skills that a prompt engineer should have:
- A deep understanding of linguistics: without a profound understanding of human language, it can be challenging to work effectively with language models. Prompt engineers need to be really good at understanding the little details in language, like slang, idioms, and sayings. By being able to pick up on these nuances, prompt engineers can create prompts that work well in different situations and industries.
- A good understanding of how LLMs are structured: this involves having a grasp of the underlying technology that powers LLMs. With this knowledge, prompt engineers can make informed decisions and quickly adapt their prompts to improve the AI model’s performance. Keeping up-to-date with the latest advancements in LLM technology can also help prompt engineers stay ahead of the curve and create more effective prompts.
- Domain-specific knowledge: prompt engineers who understand the specific domain can create prompts that are not only linguistically accurate but also relevant to the industry’s specific requirements. For example, in the legal industry, prompts need to be precise and unambiguous and leave no room for ambiguity. On the other hand, in creative design, prompts should be designed to inspire exploration and the discovery of fresh ideas. Therefore, it is crucial for prompt engineers to have domain-specific knowledge to create prompts that achieve the desired results in different industries.
- Familiarity with computer security : Prompt engineers must have a thorough understanding of security engineering to ensure that LLM systems are safe to adversarial attacks, including prompt injection. They must be able to spot vulnerabilities that may arise during the prompt testing process, and work closely with security engineers to design models that can withstand malicious attacks while maintaining accuracy and consistency.
A simple Google search yields many courses and resources about working with ChatGPT and LLMs in general. Some of these resources mention prompt engineering in their outlines, but they only cover the basics of creating effective text inputs. However, a few resources go beyond that and provide more comprehensive knowledge on the subject.
One such resource is Learn Prompting, which offers open-source courses on communicating with artificial intelligence and covers both the fundamentals and advanced topics of prompt engineering. Additionally, DeepLearning.AI provides a short course on prompt engineering for developers. As AI continues to grow and evolve, we can expect to see more resources that provide essential prompt engineering skills.
The Potential Future of Prompt Engineering in AI Job Market
Prompt engineering is becoming more and more popular in the AI job market. Many experts view prompt engineering as the future of AI development, as there is a growing need for human input to interact with and control these sophisticated systems. The increasing complexity of AI models requires prompt engineers to continuously adapt and acquire new skills to create effective prompts. Despite these changes, the need for prompt engineers is not expected to diminish any time soon.
A report by Business Insider shows that almost a third of business leaders plan to hire prompt engineers this year and
some companies are even willing to pay prompt engineers with no tech background up to $335,000 a year.
These are the folks who train AI chatbots to give the best possible results. Lots of workers are already using ChatGPT to make their jobs easier, whether that’s writing code, coming up with marketing copy, or creating lesson plans.
The report adds that prompt engineering is a really important skill to have if you want to work in AI development. And it looks like demand for prompt engineers is only going to keep going up in the future!
People who are fans of prompt engineering say that it makes AI systems easier to use and more user-friendly. And that, in turn, can make them more efficient and effective. When users are able to interact with and control these systems more easily, they can get better results from them.
Criticism of Prompt Engineering
Despite its growing popularity, Some experts are worried that relying too heavily on prompts could lead to bias in AI systems.
Sam Altman, a high-profile figure in the tech industry, has said that prompt engineering is just a phase in the bigger goal of making machines understand human language more naturally.
In a 2022 interview with Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, Altman said that he didn’t think we’d still be doing prompt engineering in five years.
Another concern is that prompt engineering may be overhyped and not as essential as some claim.
While some experts have criticized prompt engineering for its potential to introduce bias into AI systems and questioned its long-term relevance, I’m optimistic about prompt engineering because it’s fundamental in enabling AI systems to understand human language and interact effectively. Without well-crafted prompts, AI models can’t identify patterns or make reliable predictions. So prompt engineering is essential to make sure AI systems produce meaningful results across all industries. Plus, prompt engineering is always improving, with new techniques and tools to create more effective prompts.
In fact, in my opinion, prompt engineering skills will become a must-have for everybody to do their regular work, similar to how Google search is widely used today. However, as the complexity of AI systems increases, prompt engineering skills will remain sophisticated, and there will always be a need for prompt engineers.
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