Few can use artificial intelligence without wondering whether it is conscious. Fewer still fail to question the many ethical issues it raises. These questions about mind and morality are reasons enough to justify widespread emphasis on philosophy in education. But philosophy has an additional educational benefit: It can teach students how to use AI effectively.
Compare OpenAI’s prompting recommendations to the writing advice of Jim Pryor, a philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose website is a well-known source of advice for students in the field. OpenAI’s recommendations for writing prompts include: “Reduce ‘fluffy’ and imprecise descriptions”; “Be specific, descriptive and as detailed as possible about the desired context, outcome, length, format, style, etc.