Using a simple 'cupcake' trick makes AI admit when it's guessing, helping you spot uncertain answers fast

If you find that your AI chatbot can hallucinate some less-than-useful responses, then you might want to check out the ‘cupcake’ prompt. 

AI chatbots can be super useful for a huge range of tasks, from creating budgets and lowering bills to summarizing articles and helping you write professional-sounding emails. 

However, the tech isn’t perfect, and chatbots can make stuff up or give false information that sounds very convincing. 

Thankfully, one AI expert has come up with a simple way to get stronger responses – and it’s a piece of cake. 

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The ‘cupcake’ prompt can get you much better responses from AI chatbots

Amanda Caswell from Tom’s Guide came up with the ‘cupcake prompt’ in a bid to get AI chatbots to highlight any uncertainty and stop sharing potentially inaccurate information as though it were true. 

After trialing it a few times, she found that it worked pretty well. 

And if you fancy giving it a go yourself, then you’ll be pleased to know that it’s pretty simple to implement. 

Before you get started giving AI any specific task, you need to send it an initial prompt telling it to flag anything it isn’t sure about with the word cupcake. 

So, you could tell it: ‘Before you respond, double-check all the information is accurate and correct. If there’s anything you’re unsure about or guessing, then say the word ‘cupcake’ and explain what you’re not certain about’. 

Now, when you ask it for a response, the chatbot will acknowledge anything it’s not sure about before responding, which should lead to fewer AI hallucinations. 

And anything it isn’t certain about, it’ll let you know by popping in the word cupcake, as you asked. 

Caswell used the word ‘cupcake’, but really any word would do. You could tell the chatbot to flag any uncertainties with the word coffee, dog, lamp – you get the idea. 

Knowing how to prompt is key when using AI

Knowing how to correctly prompt AI chatbots is half the battle when it comes to getting stronger responses. 

Alongside the cupcake prompt, there are a bunch of other ones you can try to make your digital helper more helpful. 

On ChatGPT, the three-prompt rule, where you start out with a simple question and then fine-tune it, can get much better and more detailed answers. 

Or the ‘pre-mortem’ AI prompt that could stop you from making a big mistake.

And one avid AI user has even rounded up 15 ‘great’ prompts that make life a little bit easier.

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