• May 26, 2025
The Secret Life of AI System Prompts

Recently, the tech world buzzed with the revelation that Anthropic's Claude 3 model uses a system prompt estimated to be around 24,000 tokens long. For context, that's equivalent to approximately 22,600 words. Forget a single sentence; this is a meticulous, multi-page operating manual for an AI. So, why would an AI need such an exhaustive set of instructions, and what does it mean for performance, cost, and the way you interact with these powerful models? Let's explore.