I use the “Unicorn Prompt” with every chatbot – it instantly fixes the worst AI problem

For a long time I thought I was bad at using AI. You would never know it now, considering I test and review AI for a living. But not long ago I opened ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, typed in a seemingly clear query and still received a response that was incorrect and unhelpful. Even with memory enabled, the answers felt too long, generic, and sometimes completely wrong. Not hallucinations per se, just not good.

Then I realized: The problem is not that chatbots are stupid. It’s that they’re guessing. After all, they don’t think like humans, and although some understand the context, they still give answers based on patterns.

This gap – between what you ask and what the chatbot assumes you meant – is why most AI answers fail. ChatGPT or your favorite alternative fills in the blanks, makes a few guesses, and provides an answer that seems helpful until you try to actually use it.

So I started using a prompt that forces each chatbot to slow down, clarify the goal and stop…