What Makes a Bad Prompt?
A bad prompt is unclear, vague, or leaves decisions up to the AI that you should have dictated.
Has No Defined Prompt
- If the bot doesn’t know its role, it will guess and guess wrong.
Is Vague or Overly Short
- A single sentence like “Answer customer questions” gives no guardrails.
- That creates inconsistency, hallucinations, and tone problems.
Doesn’t Set Boundaries
- Without “do not” rules, your chatbot will invent details, try to be helpful in the wrong ways, or drift into unsafe territory.
Mixes Styles, Tones, or Instructions
- Conflicting instructions confuse the model and cause unstable behaviour.
Doesn’t Say What To Do When the Answer Isn’t Available
- Most hallucinations come from this one mistake.
- If the prompt doesn’t allow “I don’t know,” the bot will make things up.
Relies on the Model’s Default Behaviour
- The default behaviour is not tailored to your organisation.
- Without a clear prompt, the bot behaves like a general-purpose AI—not a council, tourism, or support assistant.
