Will Prompt Engineering Become Just Another Expected Skill?
The key takeaway is that prompt engineering skills may become commonplace like search engine skills, but specialized expertise in manipulating large language models will still be valuable in many domains.
Summary
- The article discusses whether "prompt engineers" - people skilled at getting the most out of large language models (LLMs) - will become a standard job role like search engine optimization experts were previously.
- Currently there are some job openings related to AI/ML that require prompt engineering skills, but no defined prompt engineer role.
- LLMs and the techniques for using them are evolving rapidly, so extensive expertise may be more valued than narrowly defined prompt engineering abilities.
- Over time many people may gain basic prompt engineering skills, similar to having search engine proficiency on a resume. But specialized knowledge of LLMs and ability to optimize them for specific domains will remain valuable.
- Companies are starting to provide LLM training to employees and assemble internal teams with both security/domain expertise and LLM optimization skills.
- So prompt engineering may become a common expectation but not necessarily a standalone job; the depth of LLM and domain knowledge around optimizing prompts will continue to be differentiated skills.