Prompt tips for better AI podcast episodes

These tips apply to prompts for the Podcast Agent, including its web research and revising in chat.

Be specific about what you want

Include:

• Topic: what the episode should cover.
• Length: pick a duration with the stopwatch pill, or state one in your prompt, such as "a 15 minute episode." A duration in your prompt overrides the pill. If you set neither, a single episode defaults to 7 minutes. For a series, see generating multiple episodes.
• Tone: casual, authoritative and data-driven, humorous.
• Audience: beginners, experts, a general audience.

Weak prompt:

Make an episode about AI.

Strong prompt:

Create a 10-minute episode about the future of remote work, focusing on recent trends in hybrid models and what they mean for small businesses. Keep the tone conversational and accessible.

Say how to use your sources

Attaching sources (URLs, PDFs, files) is only half the job. Tell the agent how to use them, or it may not emphasize the parts you care about:

• "Use the attached report as the primary basis for this episode."
• "Pull the key statistics from the linked article and build the discussion around them."
• "Compare the findings in these two sources."

Ask for targeted edits

After the first draft, listen and ask for specific changes:

• "Make the opening more attention-grabbing: start with a surprising statistic."
• "Add a section about hybrid work models after the second chapter."
• "Make the closing shorter and more action-oriented."
• "The tone is too formal in the intro: make it punchier."
• "Add more back-and-forth between the hosts in section three."

To fix a single line, regenerate that segment instead of re-prompting.

Use host personalities

Each host's personality and backstory shape how they speak. Give the agent a direction that uses them, and set them up in a character:

• "Have Host A challenge Host B's perspective on this point."
• "Make the conversation feel like a debate, not a lecture."
• "Let Host A bring in a personal anecdote to illustrate the point."

Structure complex prompts

For longer or multi-part content, number the topics and say how to open and close:

Create an episode covering three topics:

1. The rise of AI coding assistants
2. How they're changing developer workflows
3. Predictions for the next two years

Open with a hook about how much code is now AI-generated. Close with practical advice for developers.