In other words, the temperature value adjusts the style of a
generative AI model’s outputs. For example, a high temperature
may be suitable for songwriting or brainstorming, while a low
temperature may be preferable for drafting formal documents.
Put differently, increasing the temperature raises the likelihood of
hallucinations, while lowering it increases the chance of repeating
patterns from the training data.
Prompt
A prompt is the input data or instruction given to a generative
AI model. In a text generation model, prompts take the form
of sentences such as “Summarize this document.” In an image
generation model, a description like “an illustration of a golden
sun against a blue ocean background” serves as the prompt. In
multimodal systems, prompts may combine text, images, and other
forms of input to create more complex instructions.
Prompt engineering refers to the practice of designing prompts
to obtain desired outputs. For example, the prompts “Explain this
briefly” and “Explain this with analogies and examples that an
elementary school student can understand” will produce entirely
different answers to the same underlying question. Prompt
engineering encompasses strategies such as providing detailed
instructions, assigning roles, including examples, or specifying
output formats in order to use generative AI effectively.
Generative AI Guide for Civil Society