BizTech Q&A 11: Adjust the tone of AI tools

Answering your questions about business and technology

Question

How can I customize the tone or style of the content generated by AI?

~Anonymous

Answer

Hello,

It depends on the tool that you are using.  I will assume a chatbot like ChatGPT.

The good news is that there are a lot of ways to do this so you will have multiple options to play around with.

Here are a few -

• Ask directly in your prompts
  • I.e., use a friendly tone, use a professional tone, etc.
• Use examples
  • If you are asking for it to write something.  Add a similar piece of writing as an example so it can see the style. 
• Give it a persona
  • “You are a project manager”
  • “Act as the Rock”
  • Etc.
• Tell it who the audience is
  • Explain quantum mechanics for an audience of 12-year-olds; vs.
  • Explain quantum mechanics for an audience of PhD students.
• Give it a specific reading level
  • I.e., Write in B1 Intermediate German

To practice, you can give some instructions and then ask follow-up questions that each ask for a different tone or style.  You can also ask for multiple style options in one prompt.

Happy experimenting.

Thanks for the question

Damien