In 1993, Burger King became revolutionary. They implemented a groundbreaking technology that changed the game, challenging both customers and workers with a new process: accepting credit cards. In this video reactions were split between fear, resistance, skepticism, joy, and convenience.

In 2024, what does AI have to do with Burger King? Everything. AI in our workplaces now represents the same disruptive factors: do I want to use AI or not? How will my employees start to use it? Will they implement it correctly? How do I even use this system? Do our workforce/customers/clients now have to make new choices?

¡Prohibido arrojar NADA dentro del sanitaro!

(It is forbidden to throw NOTHING down the toilet)

Just like how credit card payments date back to the late 1950s, AI’s roots trace back to the early internet in the form of 1:1 translation. In the early days of translation websites, the level of “thinking” a system could do was literal. For example, in language, "jaguar = cat," but "Jaguar ≠ car."

“I don’t quite agree with it, but a calculator for words is an interesting framing for ChatGPT,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Thanks to technological and algorithmic advancements, AI now can see the “forest through the trees.” According to TechTarget, ChatGPT has over 1 trillion transformer neural networks, enabling it to distinguish between a luxury foreign vehicle and a jungle cat.

With this powerful new “calculator for words,” what does that mean for the workforce? According to a recent market-data report, as it stands now, six out of ten occupations have more than 30% of activities that are technically automatable. As AI advances, instead of “cash or credit,” we might soon have to ask ourselves, “human or AI?” (assuming we are even given a choice…).  Perhaps the best way to prevent AI from taking jobs is to embrace it and implement AI to do our jobs better.

Prompt Engineering? I call it “Prompt Writing”

Before my career as a workforce development consultant, I was a publishing intern, editor, writing tutor, and later an English Language Learner instructor (also, janitor, cook, mosquito control specialist, property abatement worker, and road construction worker—just to name a few).

When I first began using AI a few years ago, two thoughts immediately struck me:

1. I needed to stop using this system like a Google search.
2. Creating effective prompts requires finesse.

I quickly realized that I had to do a bit of writing to get the result I wanted from AI. For me in the moment, the term “prompt writing” seemed more fitting than “prompt engineering.”

There is no “e” in Ketchup

Through research and webinars, I discovered AI was full of interesting little quirks. For instance, some AI systems would confidently assert that there is no “e” in the word ketchup. Try it out today on ChatGPT, CoPilot, or Gemini without logging in—you might be surprised.

Paying attention to social media posts, I also noticed the same common AI buzzwords popping up again and again—like “dive.” Hey, everyone, let’s dive into the topic of prompt engineering, followed by an emoji. We must do better to keep language fresh, interesting, and most of all “human” even when using our fancy new word calculator. By telling AI which words not to use and giving it the proper context, we can disguise its “word calculator” tone and keep our writing more authentic.

Give AI a Job (While I Still Have Mine)

The “lightbulb” moment for me as an AI user was discovering the simple prompt structure of Role-Task-Format. Writing a great prompt starts with giving AI a job: assign it a role. For example, tell AI: Act as a sales rep, consultant, or data scientist. Giving AI the right context is essential to getting the best results.

AI knows a lot, but it doesn’t know what’s important to you until you tell it (you don’t know what you don’t know). Next, specify the task you want it to perform: Create a marketing email, blog post for Technology First, or session description for your Dayton AI Day presentation. Finally, decide on the format. Should it be 3–4 small paragraphs, a bulleted list, or something else entirely?

“Review the rough draft of this blog post and help me come up with a clever conclusion. Keep the writing style similar.”

Just as credit cards reshaped fast food transactions in 1993, AI is reshaping the workplace today. The parallels are clear: innovation challenges us to adapt, evolve, and make choices about how we engage with new technologies. Whether it’s using prompt engineering to enhance efficiency or approaching AI with a human touch, the question isn’t if AI will change the game—it’s how we’ll play along. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at Dayton AI Day on Jan 15^th and hope to see you in my “Prompt Engineering…Basics and a Bit Beyond” session.

*This blog post was written by a human…except for the conclusion paragraph.