ChatGPT Gets “Custom Instructions” to Help Users Avoid Repeating Certain Prompts

OpenAI is dedicated to refining the capabilities of its chatbot, ChatGPT, to promote productivity and facilitate learning. Today, the company announced it is rolling out a new feature that will help users avoid writing the same instruction prompts into the chatbot every time they interact with it.

“Custom Instruction,” as OpenAI calls it, is a feature the company added to handle the “friction of starting each ChatGPT conversation afresh” as you can set custom instructions in ChatGPT that will persist from conversation to conversation.

When generating email copy using ChatGPT, I frequently include the instruction, “Make sure the tone of voice is professional.” However, with the latest update, I no longer need to repeatedly add this instruction. The new update offers a feature that allows you to specify certain preferences and default responses for your chatbot, ensuring it always knows how to address you and respond according to your preferences. This makes the process of giving instructions to the chatbot much more convenient and efficient.

Although users can already specify such preferences during their interactions with the chatbot, Custom Instructions offer a helpful solution when frequently repeating the same context. To activate Custom Instructions, users can follow these simple steps:

1. On the web: Click on your name → Settings → Beta features → opt into Custom instructions. The feature will then appear in the menu when clicking on your name moving forward.
2. On iOS: Go to Settings → New Features → turn on Custom instructions. Custom instructions will appear in settings.

OpenAI acknowledges that while Custom Instructions aim to enhance user experience, there may be instances where the chatbot does not interpret these instructions perfectly. At times, it might overlook certain instructions or apply them in unintended contexts.

At present, the update is exclusively available in Beta to ChatGPT Plus users, as confirmed by an OpenAI developer in a response tweet. However, it is worth noting that this feature is not yet accessible to users in the UK and EU.

Additionally, OpenAI emphasises that the information provided through Custom Instructions will be used to train its API models, enabling them to adapt more effectively to diverse instructions from users.

The ChatGPT creator is currently being investigated by Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for possible violations of consumer protection laws. The FTC is concerned that OpenAI may have scraped public data and published false and defamatory information through ChatGPT.

The United States’ competition watchdog has now requested that OpenAI provide detailed information about its technology and privacy protections. It is also interested in learning about any efforts that OpenAI has taken to prevent a repeat of incidents in which ChatGPT published false and disparaging information about members of the public.