Add this one line to your AI prompts for quicker, higher solutions

You understand the drill: You ask your favourite AI chatbot an open-ended query like “Received any trip concepts?” and also you wind up with a prolonged record of choices, none of that are remotely attention-grabbing.

Then, the back-and-forth begins. “I need to go someplace heat,” you say, and you then get extra choices–all of them heat, however none of them in the best hemisphere, or all in budget-busting locales. 

You retain going, making an attempt to slender the main target whereas the AI continues to spit out random concepts, till you lastly get a listing that’s nearer to what you had been on the lookout for. Within the meantime, although, you’ve needed to wade via dozens of untamed pitches from the AI.

Subsequent time, strive including this to the tip of your immediate: “Ask me 5 clarifying questions first.” (It doesn’t should be exactly 5 clarifying questions, by the way in which, but it surely’s a great start line.)

Now, as an alternative of merely diving into the duty, your AI will cease and quiz you about what you’re on the lookout for. (It’s a helpful trick that’s been bouncing round Reddit and different AI boards for fairly a while.)

For instance, after I prompted Google Search’s Gemini-powered AI Mode to “give me some trip concepts,” it instantly peppered me with potentialities starting from cities internet hosting World Cup soccer matches to the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

That’s fairly the vary, and when you might begin working with AI to hone the record, you’ll nonetheless have cluttered the chat context with choices that could be means off course.

Beginning a recent chat, I attempted this as a immediate: “Give me some trip concepts. Ask me 5 clarifying questions first.”

This time, Gemini got here again with a battery of questions, as directed:

I’d love that will help you plan one thing nice! To slender down the perfect spots for you, might you inform me:

• Who’s coming alongside? (Solo, companion, household with youngsters, or a bunch of pals?)
• What’s your most well-liked vibe? (Enjoyable on a seashore, exploring a busy metropolis, or mountaineering within the wilderness?)
• What’s your tough finances? (Finances-friendly, mid-range, or complete luxurious?)
• How lengthy do you need to be away? (A fast lengthy weekend or two weeks plus?)
• What sort of climate are you craving? (Tropical warmth, gentle spring vibes, or snowy mountains?)

As soon as I’ve these particulars, I may give you a curated record of locations.

Then I replied with my solutions: “1. household with youngsters, 2. enjoyable on a seashore, 3. mid-range, 4. 1 week, 5. tropical warmth.”

The consequence? A centered record of trip locations that had been proper up my alley, together with mid-range selections in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Belize. Better of all, I bought my ends in roughly two minutes relatively than 10.

In fact, you should use this immediate for extra than simply spit-balling trip plans with ChatGPT. Attempt it for brainstorming story concepts, scaffolding a undertaking, creating displays, or for refining different high-level or ambiguous objectives.

It’s price noting that some AI fashions might proactively ask you clarifying questions following an open-ended immediate. ChatGPT (operating the GPT-5.3 Immediate mannequin) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 each selected to quiz me earlier than giving me trip concepts, though I hadn’t requested clarifying questions. Gemini 3 Flash and Gemini in Google Search’s AI Mode did must be prompted to ask follow-up questions, nonetheless.

Professional tip: A wise refinement for this immediate (thanks LinkedIn!) entails taking your solutions to the AI’s “clarifying questions” and modifying them into the unique immediate, thus chopping down on the context litter even additional.