Develop Your AI Skills
Developing strong AI skills means learning to use technology as a partner in thinking, not a replacement for it. From research to writing and creative projects, understanding how to prompt, verify and reflect on AI output helps you build judgment, accuracy and innovation.
Effective AI Prompting
A good AI interaction begins with a good prompt. When you ask AI to help with research or creative tasks:
- Be clear and specific about your goal and audience.
- Give context — include background or examples.
- Set constraints — request citations or define what sources to use.
- State the AI’s role — editor, researcher, tutor or collaborator.
View examples of key elements of effective prompting
| Your goal | “I am presenting to a group of college students about ethical issues related to artificial intelligence. I need help identifying and organizing ideas.” |
| Task instructions and form of output | “Identify the most important ethical issues related to AI. Create a list of 8-10 key points to make, with several bullets for each point explaining its importance. Cross-reference your recommendations with classical principles of ethics and draw connections between those principles and emerging AI technologies. Suggest visuals for the presentation.” |
| Constraints, warning and verification requirements | “Use the points in my attached paper. Provide links to all sources. Draw material from respected academic publications only.” |
| Background and context (include as much as you can) | “For context: I have been studying AI ethics and have written the attached paper. I now need to explain these issues in a 15-minute oral presentation. The students have only general knowledge about AI and most have not studied ethical matters.” |
| Optional: The role the AI should play | “In providing your list, consider yourself to be the presenter, who is a college-aged student very close in age to the audience.” |
| Optional: Examples for the AI to follow | “I have created a start on the presentation and have attached that to this prompt. Please provide a critique of my ideas so far.” |
Using AI for Research, Information Gathering and Summarization
Suggestions
Use AI tools to:
- Orient you to a topic, provide background and explain complex concepts
- Brainstorm multiple approaches to consider in studying a subject
- Analyze large datasets and draw conclusions
- Create simulations, prototypes and scenarios
- Search online sources and identify credible resources
- Critique your approach to a topic
Cautions
- Verify everything: AI output can sound confident, but these tools can make up (“hallucinate”) or misrepresent information, draw false conclusions, make major mistakes and generate fake sources
- AI doesn’t “understand” the way humans do; these models lack real-world experience and context, so they don’t easily handle irony, humor and complex metaphors
- Don’t just read AI-generated summaries; take time to read original articles and understand detailed points and context
- Be aware that many of today’s AI tools are trained on information up to a certain date and may not have access to recent events or new discoveries
- Challenge AI responses and require the AI to justify its output by citing sources and data
- Beware of biased AI output
See also: Guidelines for the Use of Generative AI in Research policy
Using AI for Writing
Whether you are doing personal, professional or academic writing, follow the appropriate rules for using AI. AI can support the writing process, but your ideas and voice must lead.
Suggestions
Develop prompts and use AI at discrete stages of the writing process:
- Brainstorming: Use AI to explore ideas, develop arguments and propose new approaches
- Drafting: Use AI to suggest many ways you might organize your ideas for different audiences and purposes for writing
- Revising: Use AI to review sentences or paragraphs if you’re struggling to convey your ideas, or to review your first draft and make suggestions for tone, clarity and vocabulary
- Editing: Use AI to check spelling, punctuation and grammar, and ensure your writing follows the required citation style
Cautions
- Always remain the primary author; don’t ask the AI to produce a complete first draft that you submit as your own work
- Remember that writing is a form of critical thinking, an essential part of learning that you must engage in yourself; use AI to augment, not replace, your own thinking and writing
- Keep track of how you use AI and cite its use following guidelines specified for your writing project
- Always critically evaluate AI outputs and make sure the language sunds natural, engaging and authentic
- Don’t become overreliant on AI, using it as a writing crutch; work to develop your own writing voice, style and personality
Using AI for Creative Work
Suggestions
- Embrace AI as a creative tool, not a replacement for your own artistic input
- Explore specialized AI tools that generate images, videos and sound, using these tools to spark your own ideas
- Use AI to explore different creative styles and remix content; experimenting may help you think outside the box and gain different perspectives
- Use many different AI systems – compare outputs, combine ideas and blend concepts with your own creative vision
Cautions
- Use AI output only as a catalyst for your own creative ideas
- Clearly disclose the use of AI-generated content
- Be on guard for stereotypes, biases or blandness in AI-generated materials
- AI responses may be based on copyrighted materials, so compare the output to existing works and don’t use company logos, characters or styles
- Keep track of the AI tools used, your prompts and any modifications you made to the outputs
Using AI for Data and Numerical Analysis
Suggestions
- Use AI tools to:
- Evaluate dataset quality
- Perform repetitive numerical tasks, look for hidden patterns in datasets and help you understand your data
- Create predictive models and forecasts
- Use AI tools like Tableau or PowerBI to create data visualizations
- Use AI-powered specialty tools like WolframAlpha or Python libraries to solve complex math problems
- Use GitHub Copilot to help with coding and debugging
Cautions
- Current generative AI platforms are not good mathematical tools and may return errors and struggle with simple calculations, solving word problems or completing multi-step math equations
- Don’t inherently trust the data output of AI tools; use AI to generate code only where the correctness of the solution can be
independently verified with other specialized tools - Never share a dataset with an AI tool in a way that would violate the rights or privacy of others
- Data owned by a company or organization, including personal and business information, should never be shared with an AI tool without permission
Using AI for Study and Learning Assistance
Suggestions
- Use AI tools to:
- Challenge you with questions and tests adapted to your knowledge, skills, learning preferences and pace
- Create visual diagrams and help organize your class notes
- Help with note-taking, language translation, captioning, speech-to-text and other accessibility functions
- Try AI tutors like Khanmigo, Quizlet and others built to help you learn, not just give you all the answers
- Use Notebook.lm’s study guide or similar tools to quiz you on texts and materials you provide
- Use AI tools in Zoom to take meeting notes and support group study sessions
Cautions
- Always remain an active, engaged learner who uses AI as a study resource in a quest for deeper understanding
- Remember to work with groups and friends to study together – you will learn in ways that AI systems cannot simulate
- Always ask permission from everyone in a meeting or discussion before video or audio recording
- Always take good notes in class and while you’re studying – AI systems are not a substitute for processing ideas with your own mind and making human judgments about information
- Develop learning and critical thinking skills independent of AI tools; you will use these capabilities at work and throughout life
Examples: Four prompts for creating study guides
- Summarization prompt: “Summarize the key concepts of supply and demand, including definitions of equilibrium price and quantity, and market forces as described in: ‘name your textbook chapter here.’”
- Question generation prompt: “Generate 10 multiple-choice questions and 5 short-answer questions based on the topic of the Pavlovian response in humans as explained in: ‘name your textbook chapter here.’ “
- Elaboration prompt: “Elaborate on the theme of disillusionment in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby.’ Explain how this theme is developed through the characters, providing specific examples from chapters 4, 7 and 9.”
- Practice problems prompt: “Generate five practice problems that require the use of the power rule, product rule and quotient rule to find the derivative of a function. Provide the solutions showing all steps clearly. Refer to: ‘name of your textbook here.’ “
This page summarizes key ideas from The 91 Guide to Artificial Intelligence (AI-U 2025), produced by Elon University and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).