1. What is a prompt?

An AI assistant — like the ones powering this app — is a computer program that understands text you write to it and gives a helpful reply. Think of it like sending a text message to a very knowledgeable friend.

You open a chat, type something, and the AI replies. That text you type is called a **prompt**. Every interaction you have with an AI starts with a prompt.

Imagine Abebe runs a small shop in Merkato, Addis Ababa. A customer walks in and says only: "Give me something."

Abebe has no idea what they want. He might bring flour, or a phone charger, or a pencil. The customer is disappointed because the instruction was too vague.

Now the customer says: "Give me one kilo of white teff flour, please."

Perfect — Abebe finds exactly the right item. The second request is a better **prompt** because it is specific, clear, and complete.

When you write a prompt for an AI, the same rule applies: the clearer your instruction, the better the result.

A clear prompt usually answers these four questions:

1. **What do you want?** — the main task ("Write", "Explain", "Translate", "Summarise").

2. **For whom?** — the audience ("for a 10-year-old", "for a business owner").

3. **In what format?** — how the answer should look ("as a bullet list", "in one paragraph").

4. **Extra details** — any helpful context (topic, tone, length).

You do not need all four every time, but the more you include, the closer the answer will be to what you actually need.

A prompt is different from a search-engine query. When you search on Google you type short keywords: "Addis Ababa weather". With an AI assistant you can write full sentences, ask follow-up questions, and even have a back-and-forth conversation.

You can tell the AI: "Explain to me like I am 12 years old how mobile banking works" — and it will adjust its language to be simple. Try that with a search engine!