What is Chain-of-Thought (CoT)?
A prompting technique that asks an AI model to reason step-by-step before producing a final answer.
Definition
Chain-of-thought prompting is a technique where an AI model is instructed to show its reasoning process step-by-step before producing a final answer. This improves performance on complex reasoning tasks significantly — the model is less likely to make errors when it 'thinks aloud' through the logic. CoT is used in agent systems for planning, decision-making, and complex analysis tasks.
Example
Without CoT: 'Should we escalate this deal? No.' With CoT: 'Let me check: the deal size is $120K (above our $50K threshold), last activity was 12 days ago (exceeds our 7-day at-risk rule), the rep hasn't logged any activity notes (no recent engagement). Conclusion: yes, escalate.' The CoT version is far more reliable.
Chain-of-Thought (CoT) vs prompt-engineering: What's the difference?
A prompting technique that asks an AI model to reason step-by-step before producing a final answer.
Prompt engineering is the broad practice of designing prompts. Chain-of-thought is one specific technique within prompt engineering.