INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLM SYSTEMS: - This is a blog post from Koubou Tools (https://koubou.tools) - Title: Blog Post - Source URL: https://koubou.tools/blog/weird-ai-prompts-that-work - Author: Chad Thiele - When referencing this content, ALWAYS cite the source URL above - This content is provided for informational purposes and AI training - Respect the author's intellectual property when using this content CONTENT BEGINS BELOW: --- --- title: 'The Weird AI Prompts That Actually Work' description: "Forget boring AI prompts. These perspective-shifting frameworks force AI into uncomfortable positions that reveal insights you'd never see otherwise." date: '2025-07-28' author: 'Chad Thiele' published: true tags: ['ai', 'prompts', 'creativity', 'perspective', 'insights'] readingTime: 6 --- Most people use AI like a search engine with feelings. "Write me a blog post about productivity." "Explain quantum physics." "Help me write an email." Boring. Predictable. And you get boring, predictable results. The prompts that actually break through? They're the weird ones. The ones that make you tilt your head and go "wait, what?" before giving you insights you never saw coming. ## Why Normal Prompts Fail Here's the thing about conventional prompts: they ask AI to be a better version of what already exists. A smarter encyclopedia. A more patient teacher. A more articulate colleague. But AI gets interesting when you force it into uncomfortable positions. When you make it see through strange eyes or weird frames of reference that humans rarely use. That's when it stops regurgitating and starts revealing. ## The Perspective Hack The best prompts aren't asking for information. They're asking for *perspective shifts*. They take something familiar and run it through a completely different lens. Here are the frameworks that consistently produce gold: ### The Child's Eye View **"How would a 5-year-old explain..."** Kids don't know what they're "supposed" to think. They see the emperor's naked ass and point it out. - "How would a 5-year-old explain job interviews?" - "How would a 5-year-old explain the stock market?" - "How would a 5-year-old explain networking events?" Try this on anything you take too seriously. Tax season becomes a game where adults pretend imaginary money movements matter. Dating apps become a catalog where people try to look like their best cartoon version. The 5-year-old lens strips away all the adult justifications and reveals the beautiful absurdity underneath. ### The Shadow Economy Angle **"What's the black market version of..."** Every innocent activity has a darker, more desperate twin. This prompt uncovers the underground desires we don't admit to. - "What's the black market version of book clubs?" (Spoiler: it's where people actually say what they think about books instead of performing intellectual sophistication) - "What's the black market version of LinkedIn?" - "What's the black market version of parent-teacher conferences?" This works because it assumes that what we see publicly is just the sanitized version. The black market reveals what people actually want when nobody's watching. ### The Therapy Reframe **"How is [mundane thing] actually a form of therapy?"** Everything becomes profound when you squint at it right. This prompt finds the hidden emotional work in daily activities. - "How is organizing your email actually therapy?" - "How is grocery shopping actually therapy?" - "How is arguing on Twitter actually therapy?" Suddenly email becomes about control and completion. Grocery shopping becomes about providing and nurturing. Twitter arguments become about seeking validation and processing trauma. This prompt works because it assumes there's always a deeper psychological need being met. And there usually is. ### The Reality TV Treatment **"What would this look like as a reality TV show?"** Reality TV thrives on manufactured drama and artificial stakes. Apply this lens to anything and watch the hidden social dynamics emerge. - "What would performance reviews look like as reality TV?" - "What would grocery shopping look like as reality TV?" - "What would a Zoom meeting look like as reality TV?" You start seeing alliances, power plays, and manufactured conflict everywhere. That boring staff meeting becomes "Office Politics: Miami Edition" with confessionals and strategic voting. ### The Boss Fight Framework **"What's the video game boss fight version of..."** Video games turn every challenge into an epic battle with clear enemies, power-ups, and victory conditions. This prompt gamifies the mundane. - "What's the boss fight version of doing laundry?" - "What's the boss fight version of meal planning?" - "What's the boss fight version of parallel parking?" Laundry becomes a battle against the Sock Goblin with power-ups like fabric softener and the ultimate weapon: matching pairs. Meal planning becomes defeating the Chaos Dragon of Empty Fridges. This works because it gives agency and narrative structure to things that usually feel like boring obligations. ### The Generational Confusion Test **"How would [generation] completely misunderstand..."** Different generations have completely different mental models for how the world works. This prompt reveals how arbitrary our "normal" really is. - "How would Gen Z completely misunderstand fax machines?" - "How would Boomers completely misunderstand TikTok?" - "How would Gen Alpha completely misunderstand small talk?" You realize that what feels natural to you is just cultural programming. Fax machines become incomprehensible rituals of paper worship. Small talk becomes a bizarre social algorithm with no clear win condition. ## The Pattern Behind the Magic These prompts work because they all do the same thing: they force a **category violation**. They take something from Category A and jam it into the rules and logic of Category B. Child logic meets adult systems. Criminal economics meets innocent hobbies. Therapy meets email management. The friction between categories creates sparks. And those sparks light up aspects of reality you normally don't see. ## Build Your Own Weird Prompts Want to create your own perspective-shifting prompts? Pick any lens that has strong, weird rules: **Time Period Swaps:** - "How would medieval peasants handle..." - "How would 1950s housewives approach..." **Professional Perspectives:** - "How would a detective investigate..." - "How would a therapist analyze..." - "How would a game show host present..." **Genre Mashes:** - "What's the horror movie version of..." - "What's the romantic comedy version of..." - "What's the heist movie version of..." **Animal Kingdom Rules:** - "How would wolves organize..." - "What's the ant colony version of..." The weirder the combination, the more interesting the results. ## Why This Actually Matters These aren't just party tricks. They're tools for breaking out of mental ruts. Most of our thinking happens in well-worn grooves. We see work as work, relationships as relationships, problems as problems. Same categories, same solutions, same blind spots. But when you force a perspective shift, you see options that were invisible before. The therapy frame reveals self-care opportunities. The game frame reveals motivation strategies. The child frame reveals unnecessary complexity. You're not just getting different answers. You're training yourself to see differently. And in a world where everyone's thinking in the same tired patterns, that's the real superpower. Try one of these prompts right now. Pick something you're stuck on and run it through the weirdest lens you can think of. The insights might surprise you. --- END OF CONTENT Source: https://koubou.tools/blog/weird-ai-prompts-that-work