Intermediate · Generative AI
Few-shot prompting
Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.
TL;DR. Few-shot prompting provides a large language model with a small number of examples within the prompt to guide its response to a query.
Technical Definition
Few-shot prompting provides a large language model with a small number of examples within the prompt to guide its response to a query.
How it works
Few-shot prompting is a technique used with large language models (LLMs) where the prompt includes a few examples to demonstrate the desired task or output format. By showing the model a couple of input-output pairs, it can better understand the user's intent and generate a more relevant and accurate response, often outperforming zero-shot or one-shot methods.
Related Concepts
- Prompt Engineering — The art of crafting effective input instructions to guide LLM behavior without changing model weights.
- In-context learning — A technique where a language model learns to perform a task by conditioning its output on examples provided within the input prompt.