They’re called “prompt engineers”, people who spend their day coaxing the AI to produce better results and help companies train their workforce to harness the tools.
“It’s like an AI whisperer,” says Albert Phelps, a prompt engineer at Mudano, part of consultancy firm Accenture in Leytonstone, England. “You’ll often find prompt engineers come from a history, philosophy, or English language background, because it’s wordplay. You're trying to distill the essence or meaning of something into a limited number of words.”
It’s too soon to know how widespread prompt engineering is or will become. The paradigm emerged in 2017 when AI researchers created “pre-trained” LLMs, which could be adapted to a wide range of tasks with the addition of a human text input. In the last year, LLMs like ChatGPT have attracted millions of users, who are all engaging in a form of prompt engineering whenever they tweak their prompts.
The best-paying roles often go to people who have PhDs in machine learning or ethics, or those who have founded AI companies. Recruiters and others say these are among the critical skills needed to be successful. Outside of the tech world, companies in the financial, legal and insurance world are all experimenting with AI tools, which is also driving demand.