I stopped writing careful Chat GPT prompts and rambled at it for 10 minutes instead — the results changed how I use AI | Tech Radar

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I stopped writing careful Chat GPT prompts and rambled at it for 10 minutes instead — the results changed how I use AI

Sometimes the best prompt is simply letting your thoughts wander

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I've often treated Chat GPT as though a poorly worded prompt might break it. I'd think about what I wanted to ask, rewrite it a couple of times, remove anything that sounded irrelevant, and essentially do half the chatbot's work in my head before ever submitting a prompt.

Recently, I've discovered that some people succeed with the complete inverse of that strategy. Instead of polishing every sentence, they simply talk, and keep talking. They switch on Chat GPT's advanced voice mode, start rambling, and let whatever happens to be bouncing around inside their head spill out for several minutes without interruption. I was curious to try out simply thinking out loud and letting Chat GPT sort through the mess afterward.

The point was to say everything I was thinking, so I promised not to endlessly edit myself, even if I changed subjects halfway through a sentence. I turned on voice mode and told Chat GPT that I was going to simply talk through a range of topics for several minutes and not respond until I said so.

I began babbling. For the first minute or two, it felt strangely awkward. I kept catching myself trying to turn half-formed thoughts into proper sentences before I spoke them. Eventually I found a more comfortable rhythm.

I hit on a lot of topics in about ten minutes. I started with listing some vacation ideas, meandered into pros and cons of a new TV, then weighed how old my child should be before taking him to an action movie. That triggered brainstorming possible gift ideas for birthdays, and reminiscing about getting turned onto some of my favorite book series thanks to thoughtful gifts I'd received. Seen all at once, I felt like my mouth was a TV changing channels every ten seconds. Nonetheless, Chat GPT had a response in a few seconds.

I gave Chat GPT 7 extra words and the answers instantly got better

I asked Chat GPT one extra question — and its answers became far more useful

"You covered quite a few topics, but they aren't as disconnected as they seem. Most of what you're thinking about revolves around spending time well, whether that's choosing a family trip you'll actually enjoy, buying gifts that feel personal or making everyday decisions without overthinking them. Rather than trying to solve each one separately, I think you're really looking for ways to make ordinary moments a little more meaningful."

I hadn't set out to have a conversation about priorities, but I could see where Chat GPT came up with that idea. I asked the AI to lay out some more of what I had been saying, and the chatbot chose to be a little snarky about it.

"Your brain appears to work like someone browsing with thirty tabs open. At first it seemed as though we were talking about holidays, televisions, books, recipes and birthday presents completely at random, but they all pointed toward the same goal. You seem to be looking for ways to make everyday life a little more enjoyable without making it more complicated. Once that became clear, the individual decisions started making much more sense."

The biggest lesson for me was that my carefully written prompts may have been removing useful information all along. When I edit myself before asking Chat GPT something, I naturally cut out the contradictions or any unfinished thoughts. Those are often exactly the details that explain what I really want. That's the only reason Chat GPT would have suggested I rethink how I shop based on my random anecdotes and ideas.

"I noticed you almost never describe gifts in terms of price. Whenever you become enthusiastic, you're talking about moments where someone feels understood or surprised. I think you'd enjoy shopping much more if you started with memories or interests instead of products. Several of the stories you mentioned already contain gift ideas that feel much more personal than searching for another gadget."

Talking naturally gives Chat GPT far more to work with. It hears the things you return to repeatedly, the subjects that excite you, and the ideas you quietly abandon halfway through. Those patterns rarely appear in a tidy two-sentence prompt because you've already edited them away.

I still think carefully written prompts are the best choice for a lot of Chat GPT tasks, especially when you want something specific. But when I'm trying to untangle my own thoughts, I may just ask Chat GPT to listen for a while and then help put everything in some order.

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Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for Tech Radar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as Open AI’s Chat GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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