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Lesson 6: Role Play: Giving AI a Persona

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Summoning the Right Expert

You now have a solid toolkit: Task-Context-Format, the four types of context, and few-shot examples. Here’s another powerful technique that works beautifully alongside everything you’ve learned. Have you ever noticed how different people explain the same thing in completely different ways? Ask a lawyer to explain a contract, and you get precise legal language. Ask your best friend, and you get “basically, don’t sign this, it’s sketchy.” Ask a teacher, and you get a patient breakdown with examples. Same information. Wildly different delivery. What if you could instantly summon that expert perspective whenever you needed it? Not a real person (those are expensive and busy), but an AI that thinks and communicates like that expert would? That’s exactly what role assignment does.

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Core Concepts

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The “Act As…” Technique

The simplest version of role play is literally telling the AI who to be:

“Act as a experienced financial advisor and review my budget.”

“You are a skilled copy editor. Please improve this email for clarity and tone.”

“Pretend you’re a skeptical customer. What questions would you have about this product?”

Why does this work? Remember from Lesson 2 that AI learned from vast amounts of text, including books, articles, forums, and conversations written by and about all kinds of experts. When you say “act as a financial advisor,” you’re essentially telling the AI: “Draw from the patterns you learned about how financial advisors think, talk, and approach problems.” It’s like giving the AI a costume and a script suggestion. The costume changes how it shows up. Think of it this way: Imagine you have a friend who’s read everything ever written by and about doctors, lawyers, teachers, chefs, and poets. They’re not actually any of those professionals, but they’ve absorbed so much of that knowledge and communication style that they can do a remarkably convincing impression. That’s what role play with AI is like.

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Choosing the Right Expert for the Job

Not all roles are created equal. The key is matching the expert to your actual need. Want different things? Summon different experts: Notice how specific these are. “Act as an expert” is vague. “Act as a veteran editor at The Economist who values brevity and precision” paints a much clearer picture. The more specific your role description, the more distinct the output.

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Building a Complete Role

A really effective role assignment often includes:

1. The title or profession (who they are)
2. Their experience level (novice vs. veteran)
3. Their personality or approach (patient, direct, creative, skeptical)
4. Their goal or motivation (what they care about)

Compare these two prompts: Weak role:

“Act as a writing coach and give me feedback on my essay.”

Strong role:

“Act as a writing coach who has helped hundreds of first-time authors publish their books. You’re known for being direct but encouraging: you don’t sugarcoat problems, but you always help writers see a path forward. Your goal is to help me make this essay compelling enough that readers can’t put it down. Here’s my draft…”

The second prompt gives the AI a fully-formed character to inhabit. You’ll get feedback that’s direct, constructive, and focused on engagement, exactly what you asked for.

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Combining Roles with Tasks

Here’s where it gets really powerful: roles work best when combined with clear tasks (remember Lesson 3: Task, Context, Format). Role + Task + Format = Magic

“You are a senior software engineer who specializes in explaining technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. Your communication style is clear, jargon-free, and uses lots of analogies. Task: Explain what an API is to a marketing team that needs to understand it for a product launch. Format: Keep it under 200 words. Use one memorable analogy.”

Now the AI knows who it is, what it needs to do, and how to deliver it. That’s a recipe for a great response.

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Creative Uses You Might Not Have Thought Of

Role play isn’t just for getting expert knowledge. Here are some creative applications: The Devil’s Advocate

“Act as someone who completely disagrees with my position. What are the strongest arguments against my plan to [X]?”

This helps you stress-test ideas before presenting them to others. The Confused Beginner

“Pretend you’re someone who has never heard of [topic]. What questions would you have after reading this explanation?”

Great for checking if your writing is actually clear to newcomers. The Ideal Customer

“You are my ideal customer: a busy parent of three who values convenience but is skeptical of marketing claims. React to this product description honestly.”

Perfect for pressure-testing marketing copy. The Socratic Teacher

“Act as a Socratic teacher. Instead of giving me answers, ask me questions that help me discover the solution myself.”

Fantastic for learning and working through problems. The Translator (Not Languages, But Contexts)

“Act as a bridge between technical and non-technical teams. Take this engineering update and rewrite it so the sales team can understand what it means for customers.”

Role play becomes a translation service between different worlds.

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Try It Yourself

Time to experiment! Try each of these exercises and notice how the role changes the output.

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Exercise 1: The Transformation Test

Take this simple request and try it three different ways: Base prompt: “Give me feedback on this opening paragraph for a blog post about productivity.” Now add three different roles:

1. “Act as a tough newspaper editor who has no patience for fluff…”
2. “Act as an encouraging creative writing teacher who wants to nurture my voice…”
3. “Act as a busy reader who will stop reading if you don’t hook them in 10 seconds…”

Compare the three responses. Notice how the same task produces completely different (and useful!) feedback depending on the role.

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Exercise 2: Expert Consultation

Think of a decision you’re currently facing. It could be personal (should I take this class?) or professional (how should I approach this project?). Now “consult” with three different experts:

1. A pragmatic strategist focused on practical outcomes
2. A creative thinker who challenges conventional approaches
3. A risk-aware advisor who spots potential problems

Write out your prompts, get the responses, and see how each perspective adds something valuable.

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Exercise 3: The Perspective Flip

Take something you’ve written recently (an email, a proposal, a message) and ask the AI to react to it from different perspectives:

• “Act as the recipient of this email. What’s your honest first reaction?”
• “Act as my boss reviewing this proposal. What concerns would you have?”
• “Act as a competitor seeing this for the first time. What weaknesses do you spot?”

This exercise is incredibly useful for anticipating reactions before you hit send.

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Common Pitfalls

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Pitfall 1: Roles That Are Too Vague

Weak: “Act as an expert.” Expert in what? An expert chef and an expert accountant will approach your question very differently. Better: “Act as an expert nutritionist who specializes in helping busy professionals eat healthier without meal prepping.”

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Pitfall 2: Conflicting Role and Task

Confusing: “Act as a supportive, encouraging mentor. Now tear apart every flaw in my business plan.” The role says “supportive and encouraging” but the task says “tear apart.” The AI will be confused, and so will the output. Better: “Act as a mentor who believes in me but also knows I need honest feedback to succeed. Point out the weaknesses in my business plan, but frame them as opportunities for improvement.”

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Pitfall 3: Forgetting the Role Mid-Conversation

In a long conversation, the AI might drift from the role you initially assigned. If responses start feeling generic, remind it:

“Remember, you’re acting as my skeptical investor. Given that perspective, what would you say about this new information?”

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Pitfall 4: Roles That Ask for Actual Professional Advice

There’s a difference between “explain this like a doctor would” and “give me medical advice.” AI playing a role is still AI. It’s useful for explanation, exploration, and drafting, but it shouldn’t replace actual professionals for decisions that matter. Use role play to understand perspectives and improve your thinking, not to get definitive answers on medical, legal, or financial decisions.

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Pitfall 5: Over-Complicating the Role

Sometimes simpler is better. You don’t always need a paragraph-long character description. Perfectly fine for many tasks: “Act as an experienced editor and tighten up this paragraph.” Save the detailed role descriptions for when you need a very specific voice or perspective.

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Level Up

Ready for a challenge? Try this advanced exercise: The Panel Discussion Pick a topic you care about, maybe a decision you’re weighing or an idea you’re developing. Now, in a single prompt, ask the AI to give you perspectives from three different experts, clearly labeled. For example:

“I’m considering whether to start a side business while keeping my full-time job. Give me perspectives from three different advisors: The Pragmatic Financial Planner: Focus on financial implications and risk management. The Entrepreneurial Coach: Focus on growth potential and taking calculated risks. The Work-Life Balance Advocate: Focus on time, energy, and personal well-being. Have each advisor give their honest take in 2-3 sentences.”

This technique (getting multiple perspectives in a single prompt) is incredibly powerful for exploring complex decisions. Bonus challenge: After getting the three perspectives, ask a follow-up: “Now, act as a moderator summarizing where all three advisors agree and where they disagree.”

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Key Takeaway

When you tell AI who to “be,” you tap into different knowledge patterns and communication styles. A well-chosen role doesn’t just change the words; it changes the entire approach to your question. Combine roles with Task-Context-Format for even better results, and remember: the more specific your role description, the more distinct and useful the output.

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What’s Next

You’ve just learned how to give AI a persona, essentially unlocking different “modes” of thinking and communicating on demand. This is powerful stuff. But what happens when your questions get more complex? When you need the AI to actually think through a problem step by step rather than jumping to an answer? In Lesson 7: Think Step by Step, we’ll explore chain of thought prompting, a technique that dramatically improves AI’s ability to handle complex reasoning. You’ll learn why sometimes asking for the process is more important than asking for the answer. See you there!