Google Gemini is one of the most powerful artificial intelligence model families on the scene, regularly competing against both OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. While it sometimes feels like a third place model, it recently hit to the top of the AI rankings leaderboard.
I’ve also found Gemini to be the most polite and engaging to talk to when asking for advice and information, and with a click of the (G) button under any prompt you can get citations for every statement made by the AI model.
Recently, Google upgraded the free version of Gemini to use the small but mighty Gemini Flash 1.5 model. This is fast, has a large context window (so big memory) and works as well as the older but larger models that came before it.
One of the hardest challenges when working with a new product or service, particularly an AI chatbot, is where to begin. Giving it that first instruction can start a journey of discovery and so in this week’s Prompt Jitsu column I’ve pulled together a selection of prompts to begin.
1. Your Personal Time Traveler
Here we're asking Gemini to act the part of a time traveler taking you with them on a guided tour of history. It will provide a glimpse into different periods in an entertaining way.
Using words like "Image you're..". is a great way to have the AI play the part of a character and could even be used to make it work as a tutor.
Prompt: Imagine you're a time traveler who can visit any period in history. Take me on a journey to three random time periods. For each, describe what you see, hear, and experience in vivid detail. Include interesting historical facts and potential anachronisms you might encounter as a time traveler.
This took me to Ancient Egypt in 1352 BC, then forward to Elizabethan England in 1592 and finally the American Wild West in 1876. You can ask it to expand on any aspect.
2. The Culinary Fusion Challenge
This is a similar concept in that we're asking the AI to play the part of a chef who specializes in a certain type of food. We can give it culinary traditions and then specific instructions about what it should display.
Prompt: You're a world-renowned chef specializing in fusion cuisine. Create three unique dishes that combine elements from two different culinary traditions (e.g., Japanese-Mexican, Indian-Italian, French-Thai). For each dish, provide a catchy name, list of main ingredients, a brief description of the flavor profile, and explain how the fusion works.
Mine suggested a Panzanella Punjab made from sourdough, tomatoes, cucumber, mint, yogurt and masala. It also offered up Moroccan Tagine Tacos which brings together the flavors of a Moroccan tagine with the flexibility of a taco.
3. Alien Pen Pal
This prompt gets Gemini to roleplay as an alien, specifically an alien pen pal. Once you've established the initial conversation you can ask it questions and it will respond as the alien.
Prompt: You are an alien from a distant planet who has been studying Earth from afar and has just made first contact. Write a letter introducing yourself and your species to humanity. Describe your home planet, your impressions of Earth, and ask five questions about human culture that puzzle you the most.
Mine was from Kepler-452b and gave an overview of its planet and created a fascinating narrative with some clever worldbuilding.
4. The Miniature Adventure
This prompt asks the AI to help describe the world from an entirely new perspective, one we will never be able to experience ourselves.
Prompt: Imagine you've been shrunk to the size of a matchbox and are now living in a typical kitchen. Describe your new life, including where you'd make your home, how you'd find food and water, what everyday objects would become useful tools, and what new dangers you'd face. Also, explain how you'd communicate with full-sized humans to get help returning to normal size.
Here is an example of the output from my response: "My abode would be the intricate labyrinth of a kitchen sponge. Its soft, porous structure offers protection from the harsh world outside, and its dampness helps maintain a suitable humidity level. It’s a cozy, if cramped, apartment."
The Emoji Storyteller
With this final prompt, we'll have Gemini create a coherent story using nothing but emojis. It will then translate it into text. You could follow up by asking it to create an emoji dictionary and give you messages to send entirely in emoji form.
Prompt: Tell a short story using only emojis (at least 15 different emojis). Then, provide a written translation of the story, explaining how each emoji or sequence of emojis contributes to the narrative. The story should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and include elements of character, setting, and plot.
Gemini declared: "☀️🌴🌊🐠🦀🐚⛵️🏝️🍹🕶️." Which is a story about a happy island surrounded by crystal clear waters.
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