AI chat involves copy and paste, so what?
One of the biggest knocks on current AI interfaces are something you'd have to do in any old coworker or application workflow.
In the ever-evolving world of AI chat, critics often point to a seemingly monumental detriment of today’s AI tools: copying and pasting. The argument is that it’s cumbersome or redundant and thereby kneecaps value. But let’s take a step back to look at why copying and pasting is, at worst, not a deal-breaker and, at best, an added value.
Takeaways:
Ask for more output when building prompts to reduce the virtual cost of copy/paste
The additional keystrokes also come with full control of the IP you’re sharing
Most of us copy/paste enough during our days that it’s a non-factor
Don’t underestimate the control of copy/paste
There’s one important thing to consider when building prompts through copy/paste. It gives you total control over what you’re feeding to a system. If you’re working with your own intellectual property, like any author or artist or musician is, then that should perk your ears.
Building with copy-paste keeps you in the driver’s seat. The challenge with more autonomous tools is the risk of data “over access”. Although it’s just as nerve-wracking to wonder if you’re oversharing without being able to prove it either way.
But that’s really a sidebar to the main show. Read on.
Just learn to ask for more
Part of knowing how to use AI is having an idea of how to quantify the results of using it. Even with a copy and paste process, it’s well within your control to maximize the benefits for the same level of effort.
Think about it like this: the goal with AI tooling is to maximize the ratio between value and effort. So if you Frankenstein together a prompt in five minutes that saves you two hours, it’s still pretty good. If those five minutes only save you ten?
To get a picture of how this works out, skip down to the examples section where we 1) take a look at a series of tasks and discuss their process with and without AI, and 2) identify ways to 'ask for more' with their respective prompts.
Three big strategies to get more from a prompt
Extracting more value out of a prompt most often means one of three things.
Asking for multiple versions of content: Have some evergreen content? Create a post for tomorrow and then six months down the road, and six months after that.
Crafting your content in multiple writing styles: Create your content as an old, stuck-up Harvard professor. Or a young, frivolous Harvard professor. Your choice, but use it to A/B which you like better.
Putting your output into multiple formats: Ship your expected output as both a table and a bulleted list (and if you’re feeling frisky, HTML or markdown).
Examples: Maximizing the value-effort ratio of a prompt
But does this look in practice? In the 14 examples below, we’ll analyze:
Email template creation for a new product
Content strategy for product managers
User feedback analysis for product development
Deadline management for authors
Research work for writers
Character development for novelists
Cover design ideas for books
World-building for novelists
Creative prompts ideas for writers
Recording schedule for musicians
Fan engagement content for musicians
Video script writing for marketing
Portfolio writing for visual artists
Project proposal writing for freelancers
Keep reading for examples of how to get more value from each respective prompt, and a mental model for how to improve your own prompts.
Email template creation for a new product
Imagine you’re launching a new product and need to create some different email templates to announce it.
Without AI: Writing and formatting each email manually could take 30–45 minutes each.
With AI: You generate rough drafts with formatting in under 30 minutes.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Draft two versions of each email. Increase the number of different email templates to create. Run the prompt multiple times for different writing styles.
Content strategy for product managers
Product managers need to develop content plans to keep stakeholders updated (monthly, if not bi-weekly).
Without AI: If well-researched, creating a detailed content strategy can take tens of hours. And it’s folly to assume any piece of quality content takes less than an hour to craft.
With AI: Ten minutes to find and paste the necessary product/audience background. Ten minutes to outline the goals of your content strategy. AI can give you version one of a content strategy V1 in five minutes, and have rough drafts in another five.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Draft multiple types of content at once (customer email, LinkedIn post, Teams post, internal email, and so on). Enhance the provided details around your audience/product. Ask for multiple versions of content crafted in different writing styles.
User feedback analysis for product development
Product managers need to analyze user feedback to identify issues as well as trends.
Without AI: Manually sorting through surveys, reviews, and support tickets means either reviewing them one by one or spending 30 minutes on an Excel formula.
With AI: Ten minutes to pull some CSV data. Categorize feedback in minutes, providing insights into common issues or feature requests.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Generate multiple, segmented reports (by providing details like user type or region). Summarize feedback trends (by providing timestamps). In addition to analysis, suggest potential improvements.
Deadline management for authors
Authors need to juggle multiple writing projects with different deadlines.
Without AI: Organizing and prioritizing tasks manually takes precious brain power from the creative work. Mental capacity is needed to lay out a schedule.
With AI: Five minutes to come up with some scheduling rules (between 7am-5pm, etc.). Fifteen minutes to come up with the writing tasks to be done (in order to hit deadlines).
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Create multiple versions of your schedule at once. Return the schedule in multiple formats (tabular, bulleted list).
Think about it like this: the goal with AI tooling is to maximize the ratio between value and effort. So if you Frankenstein together a prompt in five minutes that saves you two hours, it’s still pretty good. If those five minutes only save you ten…?
Research work for writers
An author is juggling multiple research projects and needs to summarize mounds of information.
Without AI: Summarizing research articles by hand could take hours of combing through dense material.
With AI: The chatbot summarizes key points in minutes, and can specifically be asked to drill down into subsections to meet your given goal.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Be more specific about your goal to get better results. Ask for summarization of single piece from different perspectives.
Character development for novelists
Novelists need to flesh out the personalities and backstories of their characters.
Without AI: Manually creating character profiles could take hours of brainstorming, long-winding steps, and if committed to documenting it, a lot of a copying and pasting.
With AI: Five minutes to come up with core character details. Fifteen minutes to create a list of what’s in my character profile (background, traits, motivations). A detailed character profile (that you can ask questions about) in minutes.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Generate multiple character variations. Ask AI to create character arcs that evolve over the course of a story. Ask AI to create dialogue for the character (common phrases, etc.).
Cover design ideas for books
Authors need compelling cover designs that capture the essence of their books.
Without AI: Brainstorming and iterating on cover designs can take hours, and in a lot of cases requires a designer (which takes cycle time).
With AI: Generate rough drafts of cover concepts in under 30 minutes, including 10 minutes to pull together genre and themes. **AI in this case includes art generators like DALL-E.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Generate multiple design ideas. Ask for versions in different styles (minimalist, bold, vintage).
World-building for novelists
Authors often need to create complex worlds with detailed lore and history.
Without AI: Creating even the first version of a fleshed-out world can take months of feeling around in the dark.
With AI: Fifteen minutes to decide what to include in your world-building list (lore, language, history, etc.). Two hours tops to thoroughly brainstorm world-building details or generate world “V1”.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Create multiple versions of the world with different histories. Ask for the world from the perspectives of different cultures or languages. Follow-up your prompts to close gaps you find.
Creative prompt ideas for writers
Creative prompts can help novelists and writers spark something new.
Without AI: Finding creative prompts from various sources could take hours.
With AI: Five minutes to define some parameters (based on genre, setting, or mood). Generate dozens of custom creative prompts in minutes.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Instead of dozens, generate hundreds of creative prompts. Ask for prompts specific to character development, plot twists, or setting. Generate prompts tailored to specific writing elements (e.g., dialogue, tension).
Recording schedule for musicians
Bands getting into the studio need to organize recording time (who is needed and when).
Without AI: Scheduling is mildly hectic at worst and done via spreadsheets or calendars. Worse yet, it’s all ad-hoc and everyone is everywhere. The most immediate costs of which can be lost studio time or going over budget.
With AI: Ten minutes to come up with a set of rules (e.g. M-F, 9-5) and another ten to list out the things that need to be scheduled (“record drums”, “Vocal sessions”).
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Create multiple versions of your schedule at once. Return the schedule in multiple formats (tabular, bulleted list). Write an email and/or text that includes and summarizes your schedule.
Fan engagement content for musicians
Musicians need to engage their fanbase with fresh and frequent content.
Without AI: Regularly coming up with new fan engagement content (posts, newsletters) can be time-consuming.
With AI: Thirty minutes to come up with the starter content (a list of categories, rough post ideas, etc.). Fifteen minutes to provide a sample for your “voice”.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Instead of 20 posts, ask for 50. Create multiple versions. Create each post from multiple angles (Q&As, behind-the-scenes, did you know?). Ask for tailored versions for different platforms.
Video script writing for marketing
Entrepreneurs or creators need video scripts to organize or promote their content.
Without AI: Writing a detailed script from scratch might take several hours, with 30 minutes tacked on for formatting.
With AI: Twenty minutes to create a basic script outline. Ten minutes to define rules for formatting your draft, length, style.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Generate multiple versions of the script in different tones. Ask for different structures (tutorial, commentary) or lengths.
Portfolio writing for visual artists
Visual artists need to write descriptions of their work for their portfolios.
Without AI: Writing thoughtful descriptions for each piece of art can take 30 minutes (if you don’t go back for another 60).
With AI: Five minutes to list the broad ideas that encapsulate your work. Five minutes to focus on style, medium, themes, etc.).
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Write descriptions for multiple works at once. Generate descriptions tailored to different audiences (curators, buyers, fans). Ask for descriptions in various tones (formal, conversational).
Project proposal writing for freelancers
Freelancers often need to write project proposals to win new business.
Without AI: Ten minutes to copy and existing framework. At least an hour to research of research and drafting. At least another 30 for formatting.
With AI: Ten minutes to copy the framework. Fifteen to list out key proposal details.
Increasing the value-effort ratio: Create multiple versions for different project types. Generate proposals in various tones (formal, conversational).
Is copy-pasting in AI workflows a hassle? Sure, it’s no Jarvis, but it’s a small price to pay for the control and time savings. If nothing else, think about how often you already copy-paste throughout your day. Whether you’re pulling information between spreadsheets, drafting emails, or moving tasks in any given tool, it’s probably an inextricable part of your workflow.