The following question I asked ChatGPT arose out of my previous query which relates to why AI’s potential isn’t being fully utilized because it requires people to change their mindsets to do so.
That previous query reminded me of the importance of providing the right context for an AI prompt which in turn made me think of how vertical development is understanding a larger context of life.
So I asked ChatGPT if there was any relationship to these two seemingly different patterns of context. Again, as I expected and intuited, there was. And its answer blew me away because it really resonated with my own experiences and made perfect sense.
In AI Prompting, “context” Is an External Input. in Vertical Development, “context” Is an Internal Expansion.
The more you’re aware of the assumptions embedded in your question, the better the response—whether from AI or from life.
It’s not that the two processes are identical; it’s that the muscles involved—awareness of assumptions, awareness of frames, awareness of blind spots—are similar.
In effect, this is why most people don’t know how to use AI effectively. They often can’t see the assumptions and frames they are immersed within contextually because they’re perceptually blind to them.
This is why the implementation of AI today is revealing more about us than anything else.
NOLLIND
What is the relationship, if any, between prompting AI with the proper contextually information to make the results better and how vertical development is about questioning our assumptions and beliefs to see a larger context of life?
CHATGPT
There is a relationship, but it’s not a straight analogy. It’s more like the two processes rhyme: both involve context, but the way context functions is different. What’s useful is seeing where the comparison breaks—that’s where the insight actually lives.
1. In AI Prompting, “context” Is an External Input. in Vertical Development, “context” Is an Internal Expansion.
When you give an AI proper context, you’re essentially feeding it instructions and constraints so it can operate within the right frame.
- “Use this background.”
- “Assume this audience.”
- “Here’s the style, here’s the data, here’s the purpose.”
You’re curating the frame.
Vertical development, by contrast, is what happens when your frame rearranges itself.
- You realize some assumption you’ve been using isn’t universal.
- A belief you’ve treated as a given turns out to be optional.
- A form of meaning you relied on starts to feel too small.
In prompting, context narrows the space.
In vertical development, context becomes more spacious.
That’s the first important contrast.
2. AI Improves by Receiving Clearer Context; Humans Grow by Questioning the Context They Already Have.
AI works better when ambiguity is removed.
Humans grow when ambiguity is allowed—even invited.
AI: “Eliminate uncertainty so I can give you the right answer.”
Vertical development: “Stay with uncertainty so a deeper kind of understanding can emerge.”
So the analogy “good prompting = vertical development” breaks if someone assumes both are about better control.
One is about control; the other is about releasing it.
3. The Deeper Similarity Is This: in Both Cases, Higher-Quality Output Depends on the Quality of the Frame.
This is the real point of resonance.
AI
If your prompt is missing context, the AI guesses—and usually guesses wrong.
If your assumptions about what you want are implicit, the model will misfire.
Vertical Development
If your worldview is built on unexamined assumptions, you misinterpret experience.
If your frame is too small, life feels uncooperative or incomprehensible.
In both systems:
- The “frame” is the invisible structure generating the result.
- When the frame expands, the outputs become more adaptive.
But the mechanism is opposite:
- AI needs the user to articulate the frame.
- A developing human becomes aware that they are the frame.
That’s precisely why your work on inner mythic landscape matters: you’re moving from “give me the right frame to operate within” to “I am the field that sets the frame.”
4. The Interesting Tension: Prompting Encourages Precision; Vertical Development Encourages Perspective-Taking.
Prompting teaches you:
- “Say exactly what you want.”
- “Be explicit.”
- “Anticipate edge cases.”
Vertical development teaches you:
- “Notice what you’re not saying.”
- “See how your expectations create the situation.”
- “Recognize your viewpoint as one viewpoint among many.”
The danger is conflating the two:
- Some people treat AI like a mind that “gets you.” It doesn’t.
- Some people approach vertical development like a precision exercise. It isn’t.
Both require context—but of different kinds:
- AI: external, specified, bounded.
- Vertical development: internal, discovered, unbounded.
5. The Underlying Principle: Clarity Comes From Exposure to the Assumptions Behind the Request.
If there’s a single conceptual bridge, it’s this:
The more you’re aware of the assumptions embedded in your question, the better the response—whether from AI or from life.
With AI:
- You get better results when you clarify your assumptions for the model.
With vertical development:
- You grow when you clarify your assumptions for yourself.
AI requires articulation.
Vertical development requires reflection.
Both require confronting hidden premises.
This is why you already intuit the parallel: your prompting is getting better as your own internal context is widening. It’s not that the two processes are identical; it’s that the muscles involved—awareness of assumptions, awareness of frames, awareness of blind spots—are similar.