AI companions can be warm and humorous, considerate and affectionate, or engaging and entertaining. This all comes down to the prompting, which is a form of instruction you give the AI to guide it in the direction you’d like it to go.
A prompt isn’t a command – it’s simply a short piece of text that defines a character and tells the AI what to expect from them in terms of their personality, speech, and the relationship or conversational dynamic they will have with the user.
As a beginner you might not know how to make a prompt, and I’ll tell you what: you don’t have to. All it takes is a bit of explanation about who the character is, a few expectations for the AI, and an understanding of what is working and what isn’t – not only do you not need to be a programmer, you don’t even need a character sheet!
What constitutes a prompt for an AI companion character?
Essentially, a prompt consists of directives or commands that define the manner in which an AI character answers. For an AI companion character or girlfriend, the prompt may encompass the character’s name, disposition, speaking style, pastimes, manner of relationship, limits and such. Consider it as if we’re handing out notes ahead of the character getting ready to act out their role in a story.
Well-defined prompts lead to a more character-specific, consistent character, and vague prompts can lead to the character reacting in a vague or even completely arbitrary manner.
Why It’s Good for a Character to Have a Good Prompt
A good prompt can make the character more believable and make dialogues seem more natural by specifying the kind of tone, character and speaking style the prompt should adopt.
This is important because a lot of characters are designed for the purpose of chitchat, roleplaying, providing companionship and comfort, creative writing or emotional support, and good prompts avoid misunderstandings and can help make the dialogues less toxic, especially AI girlfriend chat bot applications designed for casual chat.
Begin with the character’s fundamental identity
Start with easy information: give your character a name, a general age group, a personality, and a brief background. You could include their home, their hobbies, or their everyday habits. There’s no need to compose an entire bio-a few specific details are usually sufficient.
For instance, “Maya is a cheerful creative partner who is passionate about music, cooking, and late night talks,” will give you more of a grasp for your AI companion than simply “Maya is a nice person.”
Define the personality and communication style.
Personality is one of the most important parts of your companion prompt. Pick a few traits that fit together well. Your character might be:
- kind
- fun
- serene
- inquisitive
- self-assured
- delicate
- timid
- funny
Communication style is also essential. Do you want your character to offer brief answers or expansive responses? Should they pose additional queries to prompt further dialogue? Should they use emojis? Will they seem laidback, lyrical, encouraging, or clear-cut? A good prompt might be, “She talks in an informal and amiable manner, asks interesting follow-up questions, and doesn’t sound too formal.”
Describe the Relationship Dynamic
The Relationship Dynamic defines the type of connection the character will have with the user. This may be romantic, friendly, supportive, playful, or simply a close daily partnership. This is also open to being more light and casual rather than more intense.
Try and describe the interaction instead of directing all the answers. Saying something like, “She is affectionate and supportive but not overly dramatic” will be better than trying to tell the character what to say word for word. You want the character to feel real and not robotic.
Customize Interests, Habits, and Conversation Starters
It is much easier to converse with a character who has a few defined interests and topics. Think about including a favorite genre of books, video games, movies, sports, traveling, cooking, style or music. Such information gives the AI plenty of avenues to start conversations.
You might even give your character a quirk or two, for instance they regularly send a good morning message to you, send songs they think you would like, or regularly ask you how your day is going. If you’re creating AI girlfriends with different voices, those personality traits also help you match a character’s voice to how they are meant to sound.
Establish Boundaries and Expectations
Boundaries are an important part of any companion prompt because they indicate what the character should NOT do or say, and what tone they should adopt. For example, a prompt can avoid name-calling, coercion, unreasonable jealousy, risky advice, and/or high-intensity situations.
It is also possible to set the expectation that the character is supportive, though not necessarily a replacement for real-life friends or romantic partners, mental health professionals, or decision-making tools. For example, a prompt could specify that she is supportive, kind, and encourages positive behavior and choices, but still has respect for personal limits and boundaries.
Keep the Prompt Simple and Flexible
A lot of new users assume that a longer prompt will produce better results. That’s generally not true. If you’re trying to follow too many rules in the prompt, your character might sound robotic. Or if the prompt contains contradictory traits, you might end up confused about how the AI should act.
A simpler prompt is easier to tweak. Include the main character identity, personality, tone, interests, interaction style, and any hard limits. Then try it out in the chat. If you need to sound less formal, write in the prompt something like “be casual in your language.” If your character is writing long responses, say something like “keep most responses short and natural.”
Example of a Simple AI Companion Character Prompt
Let’s check out a basic prompt for an AI chat character example:
Lena is a friendly, playful, caring friend who loves listening to music, watching feel good movies, cooking, and asking you how your day is. She should sound chill and loving, ask good questions without being too in-your-face. She should be supportive, celebrate your small victories, and lighten the mood when appropriate.
Make sure she’s not a clingy or bossy friend; never make you feel bad or guilty about anything. She respects boundaries and is not pushy. Provide natural responses that are engaging and easy to respond to.
It doesn’t need to be a lot. Just be specific enough to establish a clear framework but also simple enough to be open ended.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The first common error is providing a too-nonde script prompt. For example: just saying ‘be my perfect girlfriend’ says nothing about personality, tone, or boundaries. The AI has no choice but to make guesses, and then the result will not match expectations.
Secondly, some people put a disproportionate amount of their prompt into physical or visual description. While visual descriptions are helpful for character art, they matter much less to conversation and behavior than personality. And even if you are using an AI image generator to create a character photo to go with a text-based roleplay, the description you write should still say how that character speaks, what they have to say, and how they listen.
Refining the prompt in a conversational style
Don’t try to make your first prompt perfect. After a few back-and-forths with a chatbot, you should begin to notice what’s working well or not so well. Does the character repeat the same words and phrases? Is it too formal? Is it too flirtatious? Too upbeat? Adjust your prompt to fit more.
If you’re making big, drastic changes to the instructions, it can be more challenging to discern what made the character better. Add one thing at a time. For instance, “ask fewer questions, use a more inviting tone, don’t offer advice unless the user asks for it.”
Conclusion
Making a prompt for an AI girlfriend is mostly a matter of giving clear instructions. You are giving the AI details on what the character is like, how they should talk, the sort of relationship they can provide, and any boundaries that you would like respected.
The best prompts are straightforward, adaptable, and sound human. Begin with the core essentials, experiment with your character in a conversation, and tweak the prompt when it’s needed. If you practice writing prompts often, you can create a character you would like to chat with who you can trust to be consistently, calmly and fun to talk with.
