For all the AI beginners out there! How can we use AI? It is a lot like an Escape Room if you think about it in terms of clues, puzzles, and strategy. You ask questions in layers, and follow up with both asking for clarifications and/or re-phrasing with deeper, more specific questions:
1. You only see part of the picture at first.
In an escape room, you start with scattered objects and hints, not the full solution. Similarly, when you give AI a question or problem, it has to piece together meaning from incomplete information in your prompt.
2. The quality of your clues matters.
If you give the wrong hint in an escape room, your teammates waste time on a dead end. With AI, unclear or misleading prompts make it “explore the wrong corner of the room” before getting to the answer.
3. You have to try multiple angles.
Escape rooms often require you to combine different clues like numbers, symbols, wordplay. AI also works best when you give it multiple points of context or try rephrasing the problem until something clicks.
4. The first answer isn’t the right door. Ever!
In an escape room, you might open a locked box only to find another puzzle inside. AI can give you an answer that’s technically correct but not the whole solution so you have to keep working with it.
5. Collaboration speeds things up.
Escape rooms are faster when the whole team shares discoveries and tests ideas. AI is similar: it works best when you treat it as a thinking partner, exchanging feedback until the “door” opens.
6. The goal isn’t just to get out, it’s to get out smartly.
Sure, you could brute-force every lock in an escape room, but the fun is in solving it efficiently. AI can also spit out answers quickly, but the real power is in guiding it toward the most insightful, creative, or accurate ones.
