R0054/2026-03-31/C002/S01¶
WebSearch — Positive vs negative instructions in AI prompt engineering
Summary¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Source/Database | WebSearch |
| Query terms | AI positive instructions negative constraints prompt engineering "what not to do" complementary rules |
| Filters | None |
| Results returned | 10 |
| Results selected | 3 |
| Results rejected | 7 |
Selected Results¶
| Result | Title | URL | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| S01-R01 | How to Effectively Tell AI What Not to Do | https://www.vibesparking.com/en/blog/ai/prompt-engineering/2025-08-14-prompt-do-not-to-do-playbook/ | Directly addresses positive vs negative prompt effectiveness with 80/20 ratio recommendation |
| S01-R02 | Using Negative AI Prompts Effectively | https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2025/12/08/using-negative-ai-prompts-effectively.aspx | Discusses hard vs soft negatives and complementary relationship with positive instructions |
| S01-R03 | Cooking with Constraints: A Designer's Framework | https://www.figma.com/blog/designer-framework-for-better-ai-prompts/ | Framework for constraint-based prompt design |
Rejected Results¶
| Result | Title | URL | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| S01-R04 | Effective Prompts for AI: The Essentials | https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/basics/effective-prompts/ | General prompt guide, not specific to positive/negative instruction dynamics |
| S01-R05 | Ultimate Guide to Prompt Engineering | https://pub.towardsai.net/ultimate-guide-to-prompt-engineering-940d463ba0e5 | Broad overview, insufficient depth on complementary instructions |
| S01-R06 | Prompt design strategies - Gemini API | https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/prompting-strategies | Platform-specific, not research-focused |
| S01-R07 | Prompt Engineering Best Practices - DigitalOcean | https://www.digitalocean.com/resources/articles/prompt-engineering-best-practices | General best practices, insufficient depth |
| S01-R08 | AI Agent Prompt Engineering Guide | https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/ai-employees/configuration/prompt-engineering-guide | Product-specific documentation |
| S01-R09 | Prompt engineering - OpenAI API | https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/prompt-engineering | Platform documentation, not research on instruction types |
| S01-R10 | Negative Prompting - Playlab | https://learn.playlab.ai/prompting/basic/negative%20prompting | Basic tutorial, insufficient depth |
Notes¶
Three sources selected provide complementary perspectives: research-based recommendation (VibeSparking), practitioner guide (Virtualization Review), and design framework (Figma).