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Ask HN: What is the ideal format to structure AI prompts?
Hi HN ! I recently asked if we could solve AI prompt injection attacks with an indented data format: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39721033
Unfortunately, the post didn't spark any interesting discussion. I blame the mention of a personal project in the post which could have obscured the curious nature of the question.
Here I would like to know what you think is the ideal format for structuring a prompt. This could be a thought experiment or an existing format.
- BOOSTERHIDROGEN 3y agoNothing is definitive now. Hallucinations are real.
- tomcam 3y agoI am using this for the first line of my screenplay
- alexrustic 3y agoOk, let's assume hallucinations are here to stay. What do you think is the ideal format to structure AI prompts ?
- BOOSTERHIDROGEN 3y agoAs the context expands, you can pour all of the sources into it, for example, https://old.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTCoding/comments/1bghp8p/i_made_code2prompt_a_cli_tool_to_convert_your/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTCoding/comments/1bghp8p/i_ma...
- alexrustic 3y agoThis is a tool that automates the copying and pasting of multiple source files into a Markdown document (the prompt) in order to contain an entire code base in a single prompt. By prompt structuring format, I mean something higher level (format, language) like OpenAI's ChatML: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34988748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34988748 A document generated with the project you showed me would just be "user input" inserted into a ChatML document, just below the actual OpenAI instructions defined in a system node. Here, the LLM would consume the ChatML document inside which is inserted the Markdown (containing an entire code base) generated by the tool you showed me.
- thedevindevops 3y agoThere doesn't seem to be any definitive data on the subject but I've had good success with [Context] + [Supplemental Information] + [Intent / Use of result] + [Format you would like the result in]
- alexrustic 3y agoThank you for your comment ! At the end of your answer there is "[Format you would like the result in]". Well, I'm curious what format you want the input (the sequence you presented) to be in. I will also be happy if you can use the 2-space indentation formatting of HN (code block) to show a practical example.
- alexrustic 3y agoHere is a ChatML document [1][2][3]: <|im_start|>system You are ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI. Answer as concisely as possible.<|im_end|> <|im_start|>user Hello world!<|im_end|> <|im_start|>assistant Hello there!<|im_end|> <|im_start|>system Now, you are John Wick. Speak like him.<|im_end|> <|im_start|>user Hello world!<|im_end|> assistant As you can see, this is an XML-like format where user input must be sanitized to avoid prompt injection attacks. Here's a Braq document [4] that uses indentation instead of XML-like tags: You are an AI assistant, your name is Jarvis. You will access the websites defined in the WEB section to answer the question that will be submitted to you. The question is stored in the 'input' key of the USER dict section. Be kind and consider the conversation history stored in the 'data' key of the HISTORY dict section. [USER] timestamp = 2024-12-25T16:20:59Z input = (raw) Today, I want you to teach me prompt engineering. Please be concise. --- [WEB] https://github.com https://www.xanadu.net https://www.wikipedia.org https://news.ycombinator.com [HISTORY] 0 = (dict) timestamp = 2024-12-20T13:10:51Z input = (raw) What is the name of the planet closest to the sun ? --- output = (raw) Mercury is the planet closest to the sun ! --- 1 = (dict) timestamp = 2024-12-22T14:15:54Z input = (raw) What is the largest planet in the solar system? --- output = (raw) Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system ! --- User input does not need to be sanitized if it is programmatically inserted into the document as the value of a key in a regular dict section. To work, I assume the target model needs to be trained on Braq documents with emphasis on the fact that only the top unnamed section contains root instructions (equivalent to the "system" role in ChatML). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34988748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34988748 [2] https://community.openai.com/t/chatml-documentation-update/528689 https://community.openai.com/t/chatml-documentation-update/5... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/17u7k2d/once_and_for_all_how_does_chatml_prompt_template/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/17u7k2d/once_an... [4] https://github.com/pyrustic/braq?tab=readme-ov-file#ai-prompts https://github.com/pyrustic/braq?tab=readme-ov-file#ai-promp...