The new language of the workplace: Knowing how to ask AI questions is more important than using it

"The skill of giving detailed instructions to AI has ceased to be a technical resource and has become the key to efficiency and a new factor in professional stratification. It is no longer about those who use the technology and those who do not, but those who know how to speak to the machine and those who don't. What began as an amateur trick has become a differentiating element in the workplace, generating a more subtle and powerful asymmetry than the mere possession of tools."

"The biggest change is cultural, not technological, explains Ignasi Llorente, CEO of the strategic consultancy Utopiq, which specializes in AI-driven changes. Organizations are discovering that artificial intelligence is not just another tool, it is a new work language. The quality of the request AI evolution has been dizzying. In just three years, the landscape has gone from initial skepticism to an obvious fear of being left behind, reaching a point of unstoppable transversality, according to Llorente."

"Universal access to tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini have not led to homogenization, but to a new skills gap. The value no longer lies in the tool, but in the mind that guides it. The secret to prompting is not to write instructions, but to think them over before writing them, Llorente says. It is a skill that managers, teachers, journalists and administrators will end up needing."

Two teachers with similar experience show large time differences creating exams because one formulates precise AI prompts while the other struggles with prompting. The ability to give detailed instructions to AI has shifted from a technical trick to a decisive workplace skill that generates efficiency and new professional stratification. The main change is cultural: AI functions as a new work language where the quality of requests determines advantage. Universal access to tools like ChatGPT or Gemini did not homogenize outcomes; instead a skills gap emerged around prompt quality. Managers, teachers, journalists and administrators will require prompting skills to solve complex problems.

Read at english.elpais.com