Contradictory Requirements

A prompt with contradictory requirements asks the model to satisfy two goals that cannot both be fully achieved at the same time. Unlike vagueness — where the problem is too little information — contradictions give the model conflicting information that forces it to make an arbitrary trade-off.

The model will not tell you the requirements contradict. It will produce something, but that something will silently sacrifice one of your requirements to satisfy the other. You may not notice until you look closely at the output.

"Write a brief overview that comprehensively covers all aspects of cloud computing."

Brief means short. Comprehensive means thorough. For a topic as broad as cloud computing, these two goals cannot coexist. Something must be sacrificed.

The model will typically prioritize breadth (many topics touched) over depth, producing a shallow list-like overview. But it will call this 'comprehensive' in the opening line, creating a false sense of completeness.

Fix: Decide which matters more, then reduce the scope. "Brief overview of the top 3 cloud computing models" achieves both.