Generative AI has become a fact of life. It’s built into new phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and Apple’s iPhone 16 line, and you can hardly do a Google search anymore without seeing an AI Overviews result at the top of the page. Car companies like BMW and Audi are looking to add AI capabilities to their dashboard arrays. AI assistants are getting better and better at doing things on your behalf.
OpenAI gave me some basic running advice after I used a basic prompt.
While these aren’t bad places to start, it won’t take me all the way to the finish line of a marathon, which will require a specific program tailored to my fitness and experience, how long I have to train, how I typically like to train and even when and where I”ll be running my race.
For help with prompt refinement, I turned to CNET’s sister site ZDNET for help. ZDNET suggests adding more details to help guide generative AI.
I tried ZDNET’s suggestion next: “I am a beginner runner and have never run a marathon before, but I want to complete one in six months. How can I prepare for a marathon?” In this example, I’m providing the AI with a bit more context to work with, such as a timeframe to train in and a level of experience.
Now we are getting somewhere. Booking that London flight now.
Success! What I got back was a good jumping-off point for a real program I could see myself using (with some tweaks of course). ChatGPT recommended a pretty detailed program, breaking down specific training targets and the pace I could be incorporating in new workouts by month. Claude broke the training plan into weeks, giving me specific workouts I could be focusing on each week, with mileage goals and the frequency I should be running each week.
I’ll just note that these programs were still not perfectly tailored to me and how I would train, but they were close and I will have a strong starting point for my training. The proof is in the prompt — the more details I added, the more details I got back from ChatGPT and Claude.
No matter what AI chatbot you ask, the more specific your prompt, the better. If you’re unsure about how to develop a more complex prompt, you can actually ask your chatbot to create the prompt for you and ask you the questions you need to make a thorough and detailed prompt. I’ve done this a few times, and it works well when I’m having a mental lapse.
And one last tip: Whether you’re looking for a marathon training program or help preparing a meal, it’s always best practice to be critical of what AI suggests before taking its advice as fact by doing your own due diligence — such as checking with a doctor before starting on a strenuous exercise routine.
For more, here’s what to know about cybercriminals using AI to scam you (and what you can do about it) and everything you need to know about the tech behind ChatGPT.
