Learn AI · Level 3 · Tech and tools · step 3 of 16 · word 1 of 3
What is few-shot prompting?
Few-shot prompting means showing an AI model a few examples of what you want inside your prompt, so it copies the pattern. Zero-shot means asking with no examples at all.
In plain English
Instead of explaining what you want, you show it. Give two or three examples, then the new case, and the model follows the pattern. Asking with no examples is called zero-shot.
A 2020 paper on GPT-3, “Language Models are Few-Shot Learners”, showed that big models can pick up a task this way, with no extra training.
An example
You want product reviews sorted by mood. You write: “Great battery → positive. Broke in a week → negative. Arrived late but works fine → ?” The model answers “mixed”, in the same style.
Watch out
The model copies your examples closely, including their mistakes and their length. Pick examples that are varied and correct. If you need the same pattern thousands of times, fine-tuning may work better.
Learn AI path · Level 3 · Tech and tools · step 3 of 16
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