For a long time, I thought I was bad at using AI. You'd never know it now considering I test and review AI for a living. But not too long ago, I’d open ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, type what felt like a clear request, and still get an answer that was off and unhelpful. Even with memory enabled, the responses felt too long, generic and sometimes completely wrong. Not hallucinations, per se, just not good.
Then it hit me: the problem isn’t that chatbots are dumb. It’s that they’re guessing. After all, they don't think like humans and although some understand context, they still deliver responses based on patterns.
That gap — between what you ask and what the chatbot assumes you meant — is where most AI responses fall apart. ChatGPT or your favorite alternative, fills in the blanks, makes a few guesses and delivers a response that seems helpful until you try to actually use it.
So I started using one prompt that forces any chatbot to slow down, clarify the goal and stop guessing.
