Amanda Caswell Boosts AI Answers With 1 Clarifying-Question Prompt

1 articles · Updated · Tom's Guide · Jul 8

Caswell says adding one line to prompts—asking chatbots to pose clarifying questions before answering—cut the time she spent correcting weak or off-target responses.
The prompt works because models like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini otherwise fill in missing context with likely guesses, especially on open-ended tasks such as emails, travel plans and brainstorming.
Her revised version caps follow-ups at up to three questions only when needed, aiming to avoid slowing simple requests like factual lookups.
After a week of using it, she says the technique improved output without making the AI smarter—just less likely to assume what she meant.