Context dictates outcome ... just like life.
Our dog sitter texted us this weekend:
"Hey, I ran out of dog treats — should I buy more?"
We were gone Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Less than 48 hours. I left 9 treats in the bag for two dogs.
I'll let that sink in.
Here's the thing — she did nothing wrong. We just never told her the dogs get one treat each per day. So she made a perfectly reasonable assumption and ran with it. Very generously.
I couldn't stop laughing, because this is the most relatable illustration of AI prompt engineering I've ever stumbled into.
When you don't give an LLM the full context, it doesn't fail — it improvises. It makes a sensible inference based on what it was given. And that inference can be completely logical and completely off-base at the same time.
The output isn't the problem. The prompt is.
Next time your AI gives you an unexpected result, before you blame the model — ask yourself: did I actually specify the one-treat-per-day rule?
Because the dog sitter was great. She just needed better instructions. 🐾