Creator of LowTech AI

Today in Cambridge MA, we brought together a brilliant group of MIT MBA and PhD students to learn about AI prompting and build tools for LowTech AI. In our short two hour event, we generated a ton of unique and useful tools applicable to work, academics, and life (

some, as expected, were entertaining but not particularly useful

). It was our first prompting event of many to come, and we couldn’t happier about the outcome.

This prompt-a-thon was a competitive event with $100 in cash prizes up for grabs! 

Jack O'Brien

LowTech AI hosted it's first prompt-a-thon!

Recap: Prompt-a-thon v0

If you’ve encountered text written by a computer in the past year (you definitely have), it was probably generated by a large language model, AKA an LLM.

LLMs are the AI technology behind Gmail autocomplete, ChatGPT, and 

, but what does that term actually mean? As these systems get more integrated with our work and lives, it’s worthwhile to understand the basics. Here’s the absolute bare necessities you should know.

First off, let’s go through the meaning of each word in “Large Language Models.”


If you do work that’s on a computer, LLMs will be a part of your life. I think it's important to learn the basics.

What’s a Large Language Model?

Using ChatGPT effectively is an acquired skill. Without prior experience and learned intuition, your AI generated responses will probably be improperly formatted, way too long, a bit cold in tone, or simply not what you were hoping for.

I have a good deal of experience working with opaque software systems, so I was lucky to pick up the basics of AI prompting fairly quickly (though I’m still far from an expert prompter). You need to be extremely specific. You need to be concise. You need to explain your thought process and your desired output. Lots of people have said that AI prompting today is like learning how to use Google in 2001, and I think there’s truth to that idea. We’re still learning how to correctly poke the machine.

 people have used ChatGPT, and I’m fairly certain the vast majority of them don’t know how to use it to the best of its ability (enter 1000+ Twitter threads and LinkedIn posts on how “you’re not using ChatGPT correctly”). AI chatbots open up infinite possibilities to explore virtually all documented human knowledge and experience, but a small uninteresting subset of that potential is what most people see today.

AI users don’t really care about the prompt, they care about the value generated from the prompt and the AI model. Signaling that value is more important during the discovery and use of a prompt than understanding the underlying template.

Hide Your Prompt: A Better UX for Sharing Simple AI Tools

Simplify powerful AI systems to help more people harness their abilities and improve their work and lives.

 on the usefulness of AI tools in the workplace, workers  with access to ChatGPT were 2x as productive, produced higher quality work, and reported feeling significantly more enjoyment in their work compared to those without access to AI tools. This study was published in March 2023 using ChatGPT (an ancient model at the time I'm writing this in June), and it’s clearly just the beginning! Imagine where we’ll be 5 years from now.

Introducing LowTech AI. We’re building simple AI powered tools to ensure more people are safely uplifted by the productivity, creativity, and power AI has to offer.

Posts by Jack O'Brien

Creator of LowTech AI

Recap: Prompt-a-thon v0

What’s a Large Language Model?

Hide Your Prompt: A Better UX for Sharing Simple AI Tools

LowTech AI: Simple AI Tools for Everyone