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Discover AI — Final Module
Module 4  ·  Discover AI

Workshop

Compound Prompts

You've learned how to build a context. Now you use that context to make the AI write the prompt that creates the thing. One conversation to generate the instructions. A second conversation to execute them.

By the end of this module: you've described something you want to create, built a context that asks the AI to generate the best possible creation prompt, and executed that prompt in a fresh conversation. You submit the context and the generated prompts — not the final output.

Section 1

Using the AI to write the AI's instructions

In Module 3 you learned that a well-built context produces a much better result than a direct question. Now take that one step further: instead of writing the creation prompt yourself, you ask the AI to write it for you.

This is compound prompting. Conversation one: give the AI context about what you want to create and ask it to write the optimal prompt. Conversation two: take that prompt, open a fresh chat, and execute it. Two conversations. Better result than either would produce alone.

Why this works

You know what you want. The AI knows what kinds of instructions produce good outputs from AI tools. Combining those two sources of knowledge in sequence gets you closer to a one-shot result than either approach alone.

1

Build your context

Use the Context Builder from Module 3. Describe what you want to create — the thing itself, the purpose, the audience, the constraints. Put it all in the content section.

2

Ask the AI to write the creation prompt

Your instructions section asks the AI to generate the best possible prompt to create what you described. The AI produces one or more prompt options.

3

Open a fresh conversation — execute the prompt

Copy the generated prompt. New chat window. Paste it in and run it. The fresh context means the AI isn't carrying your planning conversation into the creation conversation.

4

Submit the context and the generated prompts

Not the final output — what you submit is your planning context and the prompts the AI wrote. That's where the learning is.

Section 2

A worked example

Image generation is a clean illustration because the gap between a mediocre prompt and a good one is immediately visible. The technique applies to any creative or generative task — writing a report, building a slide deck outline, drafting a proposal, generating code.

Example compound context — image generation
Role
You are an expert at writing prompts for AI image generation tools. You understand how to specify lighting, composition, style, mood, and technical parameters to produce professional-quality results.
Content
I want to create an image of a professional woman in her late 40s sitting at a clean desk in a modern home office, reviewing documents on a laptop. The mood should feel focused and calm — natural light, uncluttered space. It's for a professional services website targeting senior business professionals.
Instructions
Write three image generation prompts for this scene, each with a different approach to composition or lighting. Make each prompt specific enough that an AI image tool can produce a consistent result. Format each prompt as a single paragraph ready to paste.
Then what happens

The AI returns three ready-to-use image prompts. You pick the one that best fits what you envisioned, open a fresh chat in an image generation tool (or a multimodal AI), paste it in, and generate your image. The planning conversation stays separate. The creation conversation starts clean.

Don't submit the image

Your submission is the compound context you built and the prompts the AI generated. Not the image, not the final output — regardless of what you create. The submission captures your thinking process, not the result.

Section 3 — Your Exercise

Build yours

Choose something you actually want to create. It doesn't have to be an image — it can be anything: a written piece, a plan, a design brief, a code outline, a presentation structure. The only requirement is that it's something you'd genuinely use, and that the AI is going to write the creation prompt, not you.

1
Decide what you want to create

Something real. Something you'd actually use or want to exist. The more specific your vision, the better the generated prompt will be.

2
Open the Context Builder (from Module 3)

Build your compound context: role (prompt-writing expert for your medium), content (what you want to create and why), instructions (write me the best prompt to create this).

3
Send the assembled context to your AI tool

Copy the full output. This is your planning conversation. The AI has now written you one or more creation prompts.

4
Open a fresh conversation

New chat. Paste in one of the generated prompts. Execute it. See what you get. You can try more than one if you want.

5
Submit the compound context and the generated prompts below

Not the final output. The context and the prompts the AI wrote.

This is the last Discover module

Modules 1–4 make up Discover AI. By completing this module you've covered the core skills: understanding the tools, shaping language deliberately, building context, and using the AI to generate the instructions that create things. Everything in Business Basics builds on these four foundations.

Section 4 — Submit Your Work

Your compound context and generated prompts

Two things: the context you built, and the prompts the AI generated from it. Not the final output.

Part 1 — The Compound Context You Built

The persona you set for the AI — the prompt-writing expert.

What you described wanting to create.

How you directed the AI to write the creation prompt.

Part 2 — The Prompts the AI Generated

Paste the AI's full response from your planning conversation — all the prompts it generated.

Describe which of the generated prompts you chose to execute, and briefly why.

Part 3 — Brief Reflection

One or two sentences. Did the AI-generated prompt produce a better result than you'd have written yourself? What surprised you?

This completes Discover AI. Your work has been saved. Keep this file for offline reference.

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