10 AI Prompts for Academics

making those hard jobs a little easier ...

The following are AI prompts for you to use. These prompts are always more effective if you first provide the AI with a ‘persona’. Of course, the absence of a work-life balance may mean that you no longer possess anything resembling a discernible ‘persona’. That is OK ... these prompts will work in any case.

1. This student <file> has applied for a job they are clearly ill-suited to. This is the job description <file>. Write a positive reference for the student that makes no detectable reference to the selection criteria.

2. This is the email <file> concerning academic workload I intend to send my Head of Department. Remove the aggrieved tone.

3. This is my lecture plan <file> for the course on [] that I have in mind to deliver. This is the University template <file> for quality documentation, and these are codes and guidance <file> relating to quality and standards produced by various sector bodies. Render my course in the appropriate form. Use as many quality words and references to regulatory conditions as possible. No amount of pedagogic jargon is too much.

4. I require a logo for my new research project on []. It should include a stylised version of a cute animal clutching a bag of money in one paw (or claw), and a piece of expensive scientific equipment in the other.

5. This is my reply <file> to the comments of Reviewer 2. I suspect that Reviewer 2 is, in fact, Professor []. Extend my response with highly positive comments on the primary research directions that Professor [] is known for. Remove any residual traces of insincerity.

6. I suspect this piece of student coursework <file> has been substantially produced using AI. Please generate some feedback. The feedback itself should be conspicuously generated by AI. It should be liberally sprinkled with bullets, icons and long em dashes. It should use as many AI giveaway words (such as ‘deep dive’, ‘cannot be overstated’, and so on) as possible. Ensure that the feedback is minimally relevant to the submission. Use US spelling.

7. I have been invited to present a seminar at the University of []. This is the invitation <file>. Draft an apologetic email that avoids any risk of a further invitation, and does not carry the implication that travelling to [] is an unbelievable schlep.

8. Please explain the University process for securing travel approval <file>. Also, I have banged my head on a desk, please suggest appropriate treatments.

9. I have been asked to account for impact of my research work. The government have used it as evidence in support of a staggeringly poor policy <file> that has resulted in serious economic damage. Draft me a statement that puts a positive spin on this.

10. I have been invited to join the University’s AI working group <file>. Propose an acceptance letter that simultaneously signals my willingness, but emphasises my total unsuitability so that I might be excused.