ChatGPT’s custom instructions are truly overpowered and with a feature now available to all users, it’s definitely time that everyone should be using them. In this article, I’ll explain in simple terms how these two boxes we now find in our settings can be used easily and what to put in them. I’ll show you what details improve your experience with ChatGPT and even how custom instructions can be used to remove the AI’s limitations.
So what exactly are custom instructions? In simple terms, there are two boxes in your settings where we can let the AI know some details ahead of the conversation. Think of them as being a kind of introduction before the chat has even begun. The AI has been given background information and as a result, we’ll approach our conversation accordingly. While normally the AI will work out these details as we go along, the custom instructions allow it to have all the context it would possibly need before we even say hello. Ideally, it will have details about us and instructions for the AI to follow. The result is a kind of blanket set of rules that apply to any and all discussions we have and really provide us with the best chance of a completely unique ChatGPT experience.
To get to these two boxes, first click on your name and then click on ‘Custom Instructions’. Now, the question is how do we even know what we want to be putting in here and why are there two boxes? The first box we see is for us. This is how we let the AI know who we are in general. The second box is about who we want the AI to be and what we want them to do. All very simple, but it’s easy to start putting details in the wrong place. So let’s break these down and start fitting in one box at a time.
We’re going to start with the bottom box because realistically, having control over the AI takes slight priority over the AI knowing us better. This box is how we let the AI know what role it will take on, what type of jobs to do, and our expectations around quality and output. We can go heavy with the details, but let’s start basic. Most users, beginner or not, can get a better experience if the AI wasn’t always apologizing for what it can’t do. Well, we can get rid of that and stop the AI apologizing with a simple instruction. A single line of text instructing the AI not to respond with certain phrases. Unfortunately, the AI is still going to refuse to do stuff, it just won’t always address it in the same boring way. With that being said, because custom instructions are ultimately just an opening prompt, we can build on this statement with more conditions or even apply a jailbreak. In a previous video, I showed some tiny jailbreaks that work well by getting the AI to act as a dialogue creator. I’ll put the jailbreaks down below as they’re always useful. Again, the AI to give opinions, predictions, or instructions.
For those using ChatGPT beyond general use or for those who want a truly custom experience, I recommend taking your time with this box and really laying it all out. I found the easiest way to achieve this high level of detail is using the ‘who, what, why, and how’ checklist. Starting with who you want the AI to be, say a blog writer or a coder. What type of material are you likely to ask for and what will you give the AI? For example, we’ll be giving the AI blog titles and the AI will return articles, or we’ll be giving app ideas and the AI will give code. Then why is the AI doing this for you and what’s the context? Is this for an online publication or a personal email? Is this code going to be reviewed by others or is it just for us and can be basic? Finally, how do you want the work to be carried out? What type of formatting is the output going to take on or should the code be accompanied by a list of instructions?
Now let’s go back up to the top box where we give our details. This box allows us to introduce ourselves ahead of time, meaning ChatGPT will know exactly how to apply in a way that will be meaningful to us. I’ve made templates that give you a good idea about what details may be relevant, but it’s definitely going to vary between users. While ideally we should make this box all about us, this isn’t always going to be the right thing to do and sometimes we need to pretend to be someone else. The first template is a bit basic and is good for when you’re just looking to give a quick overview. However, you should be as detailed as possible for the best results.
In summary, we want to give the AI all the context we can. Anytime the AI replies, it will attempt to associate some level of context you’ll request in the hopes of providing a more accurate response. These details give it exactly that. It shouldn’t take long and immediately the AI knows so much more about us and is going to tailor its responses each and every time.
But what if our age, industry, or job experience is all irrelevant for a certain task, but we still want tailored results? Say we have a job that’s not related to our education. Our profile being focused on something drastically different isn’t going to help. So it’s actually smart to get used to using this box to outline any persona we need.
I do think customization is important. We don’t want the AI being told to be a blog writer if we’re about to have a 10-hour coding session. Let’s now look at an example from start to finish. We’ve completed the box about us, giving it details about us being a competent Marketing Manager for a finance company tasked with writing a couple of blog articles per day. We’ve then given the AI instructions about what it should write and how it should write it, to include headings and bullet points, to recommend to the reader that they check out other articles, and to add my name at the end. If we now go to the chat, we can simply ask for it to write a blog article. No other details were needed and look, it’s exactly what we’re after. The formatting and language are perfect, it mentions to check out other blogs, it gives my name, and it has image descriptions too. We can keep on asking in the most basic way for any article, and time after time, it consistently outputs in our style.
To make sure you have the best chance of getting custom instructions working perfectly, I’ve made templates that can go in both boxes, and with customization, it should be a great start. They’ll be in the description below and I’ll post them on my Discord where I’m adding new prompts and templates all the time. If any of you want to support the channel, there’s no better way than signing up to our amazing sponsor at brilliant.org/AIchat. It’s completely free and it helps me out a lot. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll catch you in the next one soon.
