Self-critique is the prompting approach where a model evaluates weaknesses in its own answer using explicit review criteria - it separates generation from quality assessment to improve correction quality.

What Is Self-critique?

• Definition: Dedicated critique pass that identifies factual, logical, stylistic, or safety issues in a generated response.
• Role Separation: Model is prompted to act as reviewer rather than creator during critique stage.
• Output Form: Usually produces issue list, severity levels, and actionable fix recommendations.
• Pipeline Position: Often inserted between initial generation and final refinement.

Why Self-critique Matters

• Error Detection: Reviewer framing helps surface problems missed during first-pass generation.
• Quality Governance: Supports policy and standard compliance checks before release.
• Iterative Improvement: Critique outputs provide structured guidance for targeted revision.
• Human Efficiency: Reduces manual review effort by pre-identifying likely issues.
• System Robustness: Encourages more disciplined output validation in autonomous workflows.

How It Is Used in Practice

• Critique Rubric: Define mandatory review dimensions and unacceptable failure patterns.
• Structured Output: Require concise issue reports with evidence and suggested correction.
• Refinement Linkage: Ensure revision step addresses each critique item explicitly.

Self-critique is a high-value quality-control component in prompt pipelines - structured self-review improves reliability by turning implicit model uncertainty into explicit corrective guidance.