Definition
Plain language
A prompt-optimization system that uses language-model feedback to evolve better prompts.
As stated in the literature
A reflection-driven prompt optimizer that mutates and selects prompts based on LLM-judged feedback; specialized baseline subsumed by optimize-anything and outperformed by SkillOpt.
Why it matters: Automated prompt optimization removes a tedious manual loop, and methods like GEPA establish baselines that newer general optimizers have to beat.
For example, GEPA tries dozens of prompt rewrites for a task, has an LLM critique each output, and keeps the prompts that produce the best critiques.
Heard on the show
“… the authors quietly line up five different LLM-based optimization systems — AlphaEvolve, FunSearch, GEPA, ADAS, OpenEvolve — and point out something almost embarrassing. …”Episode 065 — One Loop to Optimize Them All: A Universal API for LLM-Driven Discovery