Prompt-based generative AI model
Microsoft Copilot, previously known as Bing Chat, is a prompt-based generative AI model. A prompt is a text-based input that involves words, phrases, symbols, and formats that guide the model in generating high-quality and relevant text or output. To use a prompt-based model, you need to input a text prompt, to which the model responds with text completion. When the AI model responds to a prompt, it does not follow a specific "Q&A" path. Instead, it attempts to respond with the most likely answer to the given question as input.
In its application, when a model receives a prompt, it will attempt to produce the next series of words that are most likely to follow the previously given text. For example, if we insert this text "What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say <prompt>?". As a response, the model will give you a continuation of the prompt. This is demonstrated in the examples shown below. Given a starting phrase from popular literature, the model can predict the next part of the text. This illustrates generative AI’s proficiency in predicting contextually relevant text.
| Prompt | Text completion |
|---|---|
| Four score and seven years ago, our… | fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal... |
| Call me Ishmael. | Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little to no money in my purse and nothing particular to interest me on shore... |
| It was a dark and stormy night… | and the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets. |
| In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. | Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing to sit down on or eat. |
As you develop more complex prompts, it's helpful to remember GPT models’ response mechanism. Regardless of the prompt that is provided, the model is simply responding with what it determines is most likely. This is why, even when GPT models are extremely powerful, their response depends on the prompt input given. It is always important to use critical thinking skills to evaluate the models’ response and determine relevance and accuracy.