AI can do some incredible things. It can code entire websites, run complicated security programs and help discover entirely new drugs. However, day to day, where AI is most useful is in the most basic of uses.
Take ChatGPT, for example. I, and many other people, use ChatGPT every single day. It’s a tool that can help you in so many ways. But there is one particular prompt that I use the AI chatbot for more than anything else.
My favorite prompt
Our AI writer, Amanda Caswell, listed something similar as one of her top five prompts for AI chatbots, and I couldn’t agree more.
Since AI chatbots first appeared, I’ve been asking them to “explain it to me like I’m a child.” This simple prompt has helped me understand complicated scientific concepts, tariffs, and, to be perfectly honest with you, concepts that I probably should understand.
By asking ChatGPT a prompt along this line, the model will quickly condense any concept into a manageable explanation, usually complete with metaphors or visual explanations to help you out.
For example, if I ask ChatGPT to explain black holes to me like I’m five, this is what I get back:
“Imagine a black hole like a big invisible vacuum cleaner in space.
It’s made when a really big star gets tired, shrinks super small, and becomes super heavy. It gets so heavy that it pulls everything nearby into it — even light can’t escape!
So if you get too close, you get sucked in and can’t get out, just like toys getting sucked into a vacuum. That’s why it’s called a black hole — because it doesn’t let any light out, so we can’t see it.
But don’t worry — they’re very far away and can’t hurt us!”
Sure, it’s a bit condescending, but it explains an arguably complicated subject in a short period in very understandable language.
This kind of prompt was incredibly popular in the early days of AI chatbots, but these models have come a long way since then. Because of this, you don’t necessarily need to be as simple in your prompt to get this kind of answer.
For example, instead of asking it to treat you like a child, you can simply explain your level of understanding on a given topic. When asked, “explain black holes to an adult who has no understanding of science at all”, this is what ChatGPT responded with.
“A black hole is what you get when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses in on itself. All of its matter — the stuff it's made of — gets squeezed into a tiny space. That makes it incredibly dense, with gravity so strong that nothing can escape it, not even light.
Think of it like this: Imagine something so heavy and compact that if you got too close, you’d never be able to pull away — not you, not a spaceship, not even a beam of light. That’s why it looks "black": we can’t see what’s inside because light itself gets trapped.
Black holes aren’t giant holes sucking up everything in space. They’re more like invisible, heavy objects — and you'd have to get very, very close for them to affect you.”
Customize to your liking
One of the things I like about this kind of prompt is how much it makes use of the conversational nature of ChatGPT. Set out your level of understanding on a topic, and you’ll get an explanation at your level.
If it still doesn’t make sense, ask for it to be simplified further, ask for a metaphor to explain it, or even a visual explanation of the concept.
Equally, if ChatGPT has dumbed things down a little bit too far, ask for a clearer, more advanced explanation. Or if you’re adopting the aging system, up your level. “Explain this concept like I’m a University student,” or if you’re feeling really confident, try something like “explain this concept like I am an expert in this subject and we’re discussing it together.”
Be warned, when I tried this on the black hole topic, this was what I was met with:
“Black holes are regions of spacetime exhibiting gravitational fields so intense that they form causal disconnection surfaces — event horizons — beyond which no information or matter can escape. They arise as solutions to Einstein’s field equations in general relativity, most commonly as Schwarzschild (non-rotating, uncharged), Kerr (rotating), Reissner-Nordström (charged), or Kerr-Newman (rotating and charged) metrics.
The singularity at r = 0 represents a point (or ring, in Kerr metrics) of infinite curvature, though we both know this is likely an artifact of GR's breakdown at quantum scales. Within the horizon, all worldlines point inward, and the radial coordinate becomes timelike — a key reason why escape is physically impossible once crossed.”
Lost? So am I!
Final thoughts
It might feel a little bit ridiculous to simplify your knowledge base to that of a child but I love this feature. Over the years, ChatGPT has oversimplified topics to me on a daily basis, with us having a back-and-forth conversation until I understand a subject fully.
So often I have found myself having to work backwards with subjects until I understand them. This is just starting the opposite way!
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