Chain of Thought Prompting

Niall McNulty
4 min readJun 30, 2024

Chain of Thought (CoT) prompting is transforming how artificial intelligence (AI) models handle complex tasks. This approach enhances the performance of large language models by breaking down problems into logical steps, mimicking human reasoning. As a result, AI systems can achieve better outcomes in areas such as arithmetic, commonsense reasoning, and symbolic problem-solving.

Understanding Chain of Thought Prompting

CoT prompting is a technique that improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs) by encouraging them to break down complex problems into sequential, logical steps. This method simulates human-like reasoning, making the problem-solving process clearer and more accurate.

In traditional prompting, an AI model might be asked to provide an immediate answer to a question. With CoT prompting, the model is guided to generate intermediate reasoning steps before arriving at the final solution. This approach is particularly effective for tasks involving logical and commonsense reasoning, where articulating the thought process step-by-step is crucial.

Large language models, such as GPT-4, play a central role in CoT prompting. These models can handle complex natural language…

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Niall McNulty

Product lead. AI in Education. Writing about using technology to create meaningful impact.