"Prompt treadmill is a situation that happens when you get stuck endlessly rewriting prompts to " make AI understand" your design intention, instead of actually moving forward. It's one of the most annoying things that can happen when you work with AI, as you feel like you're not moving forward, but instead burn rubber while remaining stuck in a rut."
"When we interact with humans, our commands might be vague, but the great thing about humans is that we can ask clarification questions to understand the intention better. When it comes to AI, many times it simply does what we ask it to do. Yes, it can ask clarification questions, but this happens after the tool already generates something for us. This clarification feels more like an attempt to fix something that is not right, rather than do something right from the first attempt."
Prompt treadmill occurs when designers endlessly rewrite prompts to make AI understand design intentions instead of progressing. Rewriting prompts wastes time and creates illusionary motion without progress. Prompts are single commands that AI executes and may request clarification only after generating output. Protocols provide a structured alternative by encoding reusable design intents as parameterized templates. Protocols reduce mistakes and unwanted behavior and produce more controlled outputs. Treating the design workflow as a protocol means supplying context once and reusing templates across sessions. Parameterized templates enable consistent results and reduce the need for iterative clarifications.
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