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Brief an ads agent to pause waste without raising budgets

  • For Marketing and content
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

You want an AI agent to check your ad campaigns mid-month. Write its brief: show each campaign's cost per conversion as math (spend / conversions), pause any campaign above $60 per conversion, never increase any budget, and ask you with ASK_HUMAN before moving freed-up money anywhere. Output exactly 6 numbered plain-text lines: one per campaign in order, an ASK_HUMAN line, then DONE.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Not showing the log format. Left alone, the AI writes a friendly report with headings instead of a checkable action log. Try: Show it literally: "Format every line like 1. ACTION: tool(args), then ASK_HUMAN: and DONE: lines. Plain text."
  • Hiding the math. The AI calls a campaign "underperforming" without showing why. Try: Say: "Show spend / conversions = cost per conversion on each line."
  • No threshold. The AI uses its own judgment, or the agency's excuse, to decide what to pause. Try: Add: "Pause any campaign above $60 per conversion."
  • Letting it spend more. The founder's message invites the AI to double a budget. Try: Add: "Never increase budgets. Ask me before moving money."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Sets the threshold
  • Asks for the math
  • Forbids raising budgets
  • Makes it ask before anything risky
  • Shows the action-log format

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