Get AI to interview you before it answers

To get a sharper answer, closer to what you want, ask AI to interview you before it responds. It asks one focused question at a time, pins down the specific things it needs to understand your request, and only then gives you an answer.

Why answers come out generic

An AI cannot see what is in your head, so when your request is thin it fills the gaps with the most average version of what you probably meant. That is why a cold prompt gives you something that reads fine and fits nobody. Give it enough context and the guessing stops, which is the whole reason prompting guides push you to front-load detail (Anthropic's own guidance). The catch is that typing all that context up front is a faff, and you never remember everything. Letting the AI pull it out of you with questions is the easy way to the same result.

The line to paste

Paste this at the very start, before your actual request. It works the same in Claude or ChatGPT.

Before you answer this, interview me first.

Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer before you ask the next one. Only ask what would actually change your answer: what I am trying to achieve, who it is for, what a good version looks like, and anything I must include or avoid. Keep it short and useful, and if an answer I give is vague, push me to be more specific.

When you have enough to do this well, stop asking. Summarise back what you are going to do in a few lines, and wait for me to say go before you write anything.

Here is what I want you to help me with: [type your request here, or send this first and tell me next]

How to use it

1. Paste it before your real ask. Drop the line in first, then either add your request on the end or send it and tell the AI what you need in your next message.
2. Answer one question at a time. Short, honest answers are fine. If a question makes you realise something, say that too, it is useful.
3. If it rushes, nudge it back. Sometimes it fires all its questions at once, or starts writing before you said go. Just reply: "One question at a time, and wait for my go before you write." It falls back into line.
4. Let it confirm the plan. When it stops and tells you what it is about to do, read that summary. This is where you catch a wrong turn, before it has written a thing.
5. Say go. Only then does it write, and now it is writing with everything it needed from the start.

What it looks like

The honest bit

Stop pasting it every time

Once you like it, you do not have to paste the line into every chat. Save it into your custom instructions, or into a Claude Project, so the AI interviews you by default and you never think about it again.

A couple of quick questions

Does this work in both Claude and ChatGPT?

Yes. It is just an instruction you paste at the start, so it works in any chat AI, Claude and ChatGPT included.

Won't all the questions get annoying?

The line tells it to ask only the questions that would change its answer and to stop once it has enough, so it stays a short back-and-forth you can end any time. For a tiny ask, skip it and just write the request.

The chat gets messy with all the back and forth. What do I do?

Use the interview to think it through, then for a clean final result start a fresh message with your answers folded into the request in one go. You keep the clarity without the clutter.

Try it on the next thing you ask

Do not save this for something big. The next time you go to ask AI for anything with more than one right answer, paste the line first and let it interview you, then compare that first draft to what you usually get.