System prompts and role setting in Prompt Engineering / GenAI - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding the purpose of system prompts

What is the main role of a system prompt in a generative AI model interaction?

A To set the behavior and style of the AI's responses

B To provide the final output of the AI model

C To train the AI model on new data

D To collect user feedback after the interaction

💡 Hint

Think about how the AI knows how to respond in a certain way.

The system prompt guides the AI on how to behave, including tone, style, and role, before processing user inputs.

❓ Model Choice

intermediate

Choosing the right role setting for a customer support AI

You want to create a generative AI that acts as a friendly customer support agent. Which system prompt role setting best fits this goal?

A "You are a strict and formal assistant who only answers with yes or no."

B "You are a technical debugger who only provides code snippets."

C "You are a creative storyteller who writes poems."

D "You are a friendly and helpful customer support agent who explains things clearly."

💡 Hint

Consider the tone and purpose needed for customer support.

The system prompt in option D sets a friendly and helpful tone suitable for customer support, matching the goal.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Output of system prompt role setting in code

Given the following Python code snippet that sets a system prompt for an AI model, what will be the printed output?

Prompt Engineering / GenAI

system_prompt = "You are a polite assistant."
user_input = "Hello!"
response = f"System says: {system_prompt} User says: {user_input}"
print(response)

A System says: Hello! User says: You are a polite assistant.

B System says: You are a polite assistant. User says: Hello!

C You are a polite assistant. Hello!

D Error: Undefined variable 'response'

💡 Hint

Look at how the f-string formats the output.

The f-string inserts the system_prompt and user_input values into the string exactly as shown in option B.

❓ Metrics

advanced

Evaluating system prompt effectiveness with user satisfaction

You test two different system prompts for an AI assistant. Prompt A yields 85% user satisfaction, and Prompt B yields 75%. Which metric best explains the difference?

A User satisfaction score

B Model training loss

C Number of tokens generated

D CPU usage during inference

💡 Hint

Think about what measures how happy users are with the AI's responses.

User satisfaction score directly measures how well the system prompt meets user expectations.

🔧 Debug

expert

Debugging a system prompt causing unexpected AI behavior

An AI assistant is set with this system prompt: "You are a sarcastic assistant." However, the AI responds very politely without sarcasm. What is the most likely cause?

A The AI is offline and not generating responses

B The AI model cannot understand sarcasm

C The system prompt is overridden or ignored by later instructions

D The user input is too short

💡 Hint

Consider how system prompts interact with other instructions.

If later instructions or user inputs override the system prompt, the AI may not follow the sarcastic role.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of a system prompt in AI?

easy

A. To tell the AI what role to play

B. To train the AI with new data

C. To fix errors in AI code

D. To speed up AI computations

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand system prompt role

   System prompts guide AI on how to behave or respond.

2. Step 2: Differentiate from other AI tasks

   Training data and code fixes are separate from role setting.

3. Final Answer:

   To tell the AI what role to play -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   System prompt = role setting [OK]

Hint: System prompts set AI's role or behavior [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing system prompts with training data
• Thinking system prompts fix AI bugs
• Assuming system prompts speed up AI

2. Which of the following is the correct way to set a system prompt for an AI to act as a tutor?

easy

A. Set prompt = 'You are a helpful assistant.'

B. Set prompt = 'Fix errors in code.'

C. Set prompt = 'Run training on tutor data.'

D. Set prompt = 'You are a tutor who explains simply.'

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify correct prompt style

   The prompt should clearly tell AI to act as a tutor and explain simply.

2. Step 2: Eliminate unrelated options

   Options about training or fixing code are not system prompts.

3. Final Answer:

   Set prompt = 'You are a tutor who explains simply.' -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Clear role description = correct prompt [OK]

Hint: Use clear role description in prompt [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using vague prompts like 'helpful assistant'
• Confusing prompts with training commands
• Writing prompts unrelated to role

3. Given this system prompt: 'You are a translator from English to Spanish.' What will the AI most likely do when asked 'Hello, how are you?'?

medium

A. Translate it to Spanish

B. Ignore the prompt and answer in English

C. Explain the meaning of the sentence

D. Ask for more context

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze the system prompt

   The prompt sets AI's role as a translator from English to Spanish.

2. Step 2: Predict AI response to input

   AI will translate the input sentence into Spanish as instructed.

3. Final Answer:

   Translate it to Spanish -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Translator prompt = translate output [OK]

Hint: Match prompt role to AI output [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking AI explains instead of translates
• Assuming AI ignores system prompt
• Expecting AI to ask questions

4. You wrote this system prompt: 'You are a helpful assistant.' but the AI keeps giving very short answers. What is the best fix?

medium

A. Restart the AI server.

B. Remove the system prompt entirely.

C. Change prompt to 'You are a helpful assistant who explains in detail.'

D. Add more training data.

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify problem with prompt

   The prompt is too vague, so AI gives short answers.

2. Step 2: Improve prompt specificity

   Adding 'explains in detail' guides AI to give longer answers.

3. Final Answer:

   Change prompt to 'You are a helpful assistant who explains in detail.' -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Specific prompt = better answers [OK]

Hint: Make prompts more specific for better answers [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Removing prompt instead of improving it
• Thinking training data fixes prompt issues
• Restarting server won't change AI behavior

5. You want the AI to act as a math tutor who only answers questions about addition and subtraction. Which system prompt is best?

hard

A. You are a math tutor who answers all math questions.

B. You are a math tutor who only answers addition and subtraction questions.

C. You are a general assistant.

D. You are a math tutor who answers multiplication questions.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the role restriction

   The AI should only answer addition and subtraction questions.

2. Step 2: Choose prompt that limits scope correctly

   You are a math tutor who only answers addition and subtraction questions. clearly restricts AI to addition and subtraction only.

3. Step 3: Eliminate broader or unrelated prompts

   The other options do not restrict to addition and subtraction.

4. Final Answer:

   You are a math tutor who only answers addition and subtraction questions. -> Option B

5. Quick Check:

   Specific role limits AI scope [OK]

Hint: Use clear limits in prompt for focused AI roles [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using broad prompts without limits
• Choosing unrelated math topics
• Not specifying question types