Prompt Engineering: Generative AI’s Most Exciting New Career 

Artificial intelligence (AI) generally refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that are associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. Generative AI is a subset of AI that focuses on the ability of machines to create new content, such as text, images, audio, and video. 

The main difference between AI and generative AI is that AI is focused on understanding and manipulating existing data, while generative AI tools — like Chat GPT, DALL-E 2, and Midjourney — are focused on creating new data. For example, an AI system that is used to classify images would be able to identify and categorize different types of objects in an image, but it would not be able to create new images. Conversely, Generative AI systems can create new images that are similar to the images they were trained on. With these systems being trained on billions of data points, they are able to create nearly anything imaginable based on only a few simple inputs. 

This new wave of creation is already changing how the world operates, and has launched a number of new career fields, including prompt engineering. 

What does a prompt engineer do? 

Prompt engineers specialize in creating, refining, and optimizing prompts — the text shared to a generative AI model to produce specific outputs — to achieve high quality and accurate results. By formatting prompts in a specific way with particular instructions, prompt engineers can create better results. 

Generative AI has already disrupted art and design, content creation, education, health care, and several other industries. The right prompt can effortlessly turn a company’s press release into several compelling posts for social media. It can help create images for a marketing campaign or copy for sales emails. And it can extract and synthesize data from robust reports and presentations. 

Career outlooks for prompt engineers 

Interest in generative AI platforms has boomed in the past year, and prompt engineering is growing rapidly as these models become more powerful and integrated into normal business operations. It’s important for those interested in prompt engineering to break into the field quickly, as these highly specialized roles are in high demand. Many companies are offering six figure salaries to individuals with the unique skills to fill these critical roles. Those holding a degree in Artificial Intelligence, like the ones offered at Capitol Tech, will undoubtedly be some of the strongest candidates on the market.

How to become a prompt engineer 

Not all prompt engineering positions will require extensive technical skills, but those interested will benefit from a strong background in artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and computer science. They also need excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, as well as a deep understanding of language and syntax. This cross-disciplinary expertise will allow them to experiment with different types of prompts to find the ones that work best for unique tasks and to collaborate to develop new generative AI applications. 

The future of generative AI careers 

As generative AI systems and their use cases are expanding, so, too, are a variety of associated careers. AI trainers are needed to better develop and teach large language models. AI ethicists are needed to understand and advise on the ethical and social impacts of this fast-moving tech. Human-machine teaming managers are needed to optimize the integration of human teams with the technology they’re collaborating with. Emotional experience designers are needed to create designs that evoke positive emotions and, thus, positive experiences for the user. 

Capitol Technology University has the cutting-edge programs and faculty expertise to help you harness the critical skills needed in these rapidly evolving careers. Our programs in fields like Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science; Engineering Technologies; and Management of Technology can help you get in front of these emerging fields. 

For more information, visit the Capitol website or contact our Admissions team at admissions@captechu.edu.