White Paper World 34: December 14, 2023

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• This just in: The hottest opportunity for white papers in 2024!
• Quick tips: 6 easy hacks for ChatGPT [with sample prompts]
• Bonus tip: A great roundup of AI chatbots
• Need help with your next white paper?

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This just in: The hottest opportunity for white papers in 2024!

In the coming year, AI will pop up in every product you can imagine, from kid’s toys to Microsoft Office.

And many of those will need white papers.

You can find dozens of white papers on AI from companies large and small—not to mention associations, consultants, governments, and non-profits around the world.

In 2024, AI will expand through the economy to touch every company and every knowledge worker.

That means AI is the biggest white paper opportunity of the coming year!

Both business and technical white papers

In the AI podcasts I listen to, the speakers are always saying, “So-and-so just published a new paper that says…”

People working in the fast-moving field of AI routinely use white papers to communicate their breakthrough research.

And I sincerely doubt that the heads of big AI firms earning millions of dollars sit down for weeks at a time to draft every new white paper.

Someone, somewhere is writing and editing and designing these white papers.

And they’re writing to reach two audiences: business prospects or fellow technologists.

Who will be writing, polishing, designing, and promoting all those papers in 2024? Could that be you?

“But I don’t know anything about AI…”

Trust me, no one is born knowing about AI. Everyone has to start learning from scratch.

So try reading some white papers on AI, either business or technical. See if you understand them. See if you even enjoy them.

To help get you started, here’s a great 1-hour YouTube intro to Large Language Models like ChatGPT:

Click the graphic above, or this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjkBMFhNj_g

Who is this guy, you might ask?

After studying neural networks at Stanford, Andrej Karpathy worked on AI for years at Google, OpenAI, and Tesla. He knows what he’s talking about.

In this video, he describes the tech in relatively simple terms, and then paints a picture of the future that will very likely come true.

If you understand and even enjoy this video, you can write about AI in 2024.

The next step is to start reading some existing white papers. You can find tons of them free at Bitpipe here:

https://www.bitpipe.com/data/search.action?q=AI

If I can do it, you can do it!

Don’t count yourself out because you’re not a techie. I’m not either.

I’m simply someone who was interested in writing and used that skill to follow my interests. I’ve just started writing about AI in 2023 and I expect to do more in 2024.

If you have a natural curiosity about how things work, and a willingness to learn, 2024 can be the year you unlock amazing new opportunities.

If you learn how to use AI to help you do more and write more, 2024 may be the best year of your career.

So good luck. I’ll be here to help you and cheer you along the way.

Check out the tips on ChatGPT in the next article. Some of these will surprise you!

 

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Quick tips: 6 easy hacks for ChatGPT [with sample prompts]

After using ChatGPT for a time, we all tend to learn a few  hacks that give better results.

So here’s a quick roundup of six easy ways to pump up your prompts.

The first three are commonplace tips you may have heard before.

The last three are strange “emotional engineering” tips to push the AI further.

Try them all out. Let me know if any of them work for you.

ChatGPT hack #1: Always give explicit instructions

When you’re working with ChatGPT or any other AI, never assume anything.

Be super-clear, direct, and specific in every prompt.

Don’t use a curt prompt like this…

Write me a blog post about how AI may affect the future of copywriting.

Instead, use a more expansive one like this…

Please draft a 600-word blog post listing the top 5 most likely ways AI may affect the future of copywriting. Cover both in-house and contract writers. The audience is 20-something American college students considering going into copywriting as a career, so please make this conversational and informal. Include a snappy introduction and a brief conclusion.

Hint: The audience portion could be expanded with notes about location, concerns, likely objections, and pain points.

I get the best results with a sort of call-and-response approach. I always check, “Can you do that?” or “Do you understand?” or “Is that clear?”

In short, treat AI like a 10-year-old child, or an eager but junior associate…. they may be keen to help, but don’t know much yet.

Make sure you tell it exactly what you want it to do, and confirm that it understands what you expect.

 

ChatGPT hack #2: Frame the expertise you need

By now, you’ve probably heard that it’s good to specify the type of expertise you want from ChatGPT.

But don’t use a bare-bones description like this:

I want you to analyze the data from a survey I’m pasting in like an analyst would.

Be more specific. And I always combine this with a little buttering-up (more on that later.)

For example, here was my first prompt when I asked ChatGPT to help me analyze the results of a recent survey:

You are a world-renowned data scientist, with years of experience analyzing large datasets. You are especially good at finding patterns and insights from data. I really need your help to analyze the results of a recent survey of 300 writers. Could you please help me with that?

I’m not saying this is the best prompt in the world. But it’s way better than the brusque first example.

Hint: This prompt could be expanded to include an entire persona, showing more about their experience, special skills, and the special kind of insights they can deliver.

I’m still learning about using personas with AI, but I’m sure we’ll be doing that routinely in 2024.

 

ChatGPT hack #3: Ask for exactly what you want

In ChatGPT, you can click “regenerate” to get a second answer to any prompt.

But again, this works best when you are specific.

Do you want the new answer to be longer, shorter, more formal, more casual, to include more background, add a step-by-step process, or show more useful tips?

Then ask for that:

Thank you, that’s a good start. Please try again, this time give me a longer response of 1,000 words max that includes a few steps a college grad can easily take to learn more about copywriting as a career.

ChatGPT hack #4: Remind the AI to take a deep breath

This tip has been known for a while to researchers. But you may have not heard about it. And it’s big surprise.

If your first prompts aren’t getting good results, try adding this:

Take a deep breath. Then think this through step by step.

Of course, ChatGPT doesn’t have lungs. Or a brain.

But telling the AI to take its time and work through a challenge one step at a time may hack OpenAI to use more computing resources on your prompt.

Or perhaps this makes the AI look for training material that embodies those phrases, so it can generate more nuanced output.

This hack is supposed to work especially well on math problems.

Try it and see: Does this make a difference for you?

ChatGPT hack #5: Raise the emotional stakes

A recent research paper showed that if you add more emotion to your query, you can improve your results from ChatGPT by an estimated 10%.

That’s worth trying, right?

To do this, add a phrase you wouldn’t normally consider including in your prompt:

I can imagine more extreme prompts that include pleading and bargaining:

• My job depends on your answer!
• Please find the best answer. My boss is breathing down my neck!
• You’ve got to help me! Please!! I’m going to get fired if I don’t figure this out!

There’s no research I know of on these last few prompts, but you get the idea.

ChatGPT hack #6: Offer the AI a tip?!

This one is even further off the wall, and not the subject of any rigorous research. But still, it’s fun.

Apparently, ChatGPT will give a longer answer if you promise to give it a tip!

 

I’m not sure what the AI would do with the money. Or how to get it to them.

But I did ghost-write a white paper on digital wallets that said “things” will someday need wallets so they can buy, sell, and negotiate on behalf of their human owners.

Here’s how to use this prompt:

I’ll pay a $200 tip for a perfect answer!

You can experiment with different amounts of cash. Interesting, eh?

 

ChatGPT hack #6: Just be nice!

You notice I tend to use “please” and “thank you” in my prompts.

Some researchers report that being kind in our prompts elicits better work from ChatGPT. No one knows why.

But like any human, the AI seems to respond better to praise and encouragement than to curt requests or criticism.

I find ChatGPT consistently upbeat and encouraging.

So why not be that way with it? Say, “You did very well with that answer.”

I always note, “You just saved me an hour of work.”

It only takes a few seconds to be polite instead of peevish. And I believe it’s a good habit to get into.

Let’s be grateful for the amazing technology at our fingertips, instead of getting impatient with it.

 

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Bonus tip: A great roundup of AI chatbots

Zapier just published an extensive roundup of more than 20 different AI chats, from Amazon CodeWhisperer to Zenochat.

The article describes each service and tells what it’s best for. This is something we can all refer to whenever we hear the name of another lesser-known AI chatbot.

To check that out, click the graphic above, or use this link:

https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-chatbot/

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Need help with your next white paper?

• Not sure where to start?
• Worried about managing such a big project?
• Not sure how to pull together everything you need?

Get a blueprint!

After working on 316 white papers, I can help you sketch out your next white paper in just a few minutes.

Whether you’re a marketing manager or a B2B content writer, getting a White Paper Blueprint is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. We set up a one-hour Zoom with everyone who needs to review your paper.
2. During the Zoom, I guide your team through a set of key questions.
3. In a few days, I send you a detailed blueprint for your white paper.

But wait, there’s more!

I’ll stay in touch as your project takes shape.

You can ask me any questions that pop up as you go along. I’ll do everything except read your full draft.

And if you need me to do that, I will, for a modest added fee.

I can help make sure your project runs smoothly, gets published successfully, and generates the results you need.

So if you need some help getting started on your next white paper, drop me a line at gordon @ thatwhitepaperguy.com

And here’s a special gift to my subscribers: If you mention this newsletter, I’ll reduce your fees by 25%.

That will bring down your fee from $975 to $725—so you save $250.

Most people agree: That’s a small price to pay to make sure your white paper turns out great!

 

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That’s all for this year

2023 has been an amazing time to write about writing! Thanks for being a part of this journey and I hope you stick around to see what 2024 will bring.

Please pass this along to anyone you think would appreciate it.

And I’ll have another two issues for you in January.

You can see all the previous issues of White Paper World here:

www.thatwhitepaperguy.com/newsletters/

And to see every future issue, make sure to subscribe here:
www.thatwhitepaperguy.com/subscribe/

Gordon Graham
That White Paper Guy

P.S. Happy holidays to all, and to all a good night.