The one prompt that changes how AI solves problems: 'What's the simplest way?'

TheMoonMidas · x · 2026-10-15

TheMoonMidas shares the first of his collected prompts that make AI question what it's doing rather than telling it what to do: "What's the simplest way to achieve the same outcome?"

When: at task start, or when the current approach feels complex, slow or expensive
Why it works: forces the AI to question unnecessary complexity and find a more direct path — often faster, cheaper, cleaner
Example: asking for the simplest way to analyze 10,000 rows yields a suggestion to sample 5% of the data for 95% of the value in a fraction of the time

He says he'll keep adding prompts to the thread one at a time.

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The one prompt that changes how AI solves problems: 'What's the simplest way?'

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