Less Precise Can Be More Useful

When a person asks an AI tool to help write something, the first instinct is often to provide every available detail. That feels careful. It can also create a request that identifies people, exposes private circumstances, and still does not improve the writing task.

Reducing precision is not deleting all context. It is keeping the audience, goal, constraints, and verified facts that matter while replacing unnecessary names, addresses, account details, and private history with useful categories or fictional equivalents.

The test is practical: would the request still work if this exact detail became a role, range, broad situation, or placeholder? Then ask a separate question: whose information is this, and am I authorized to use it for this purpose? A useful detail is not automatically yours to disclose. If the task needs exact or sensitive information, it may need a responsible person or approved system—not a more detailed prompt.

Less precision is not less care. It is care directed at the real work.

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Source: labs/reduce-the-precision/companions/article-medium-draft.md