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Custom instructions for ChatGPT

openai.com

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Re: Custom instructions for ChatGPT

#2

Post by minimaxir »

The biggest weakness of the ChatGPT Webapp is the inability to tinker with the system prompt, which is what can really control how ChatGPT behaves and can correct a large number of undesired behaviors people keep complaining about.

This is most likely using system prompt engineering on the backend, so hopefully people will also realize that prompt engineering is not a meme by finally giving them a mechanism to customize output significantly. It also explains why it's limited to paying customers only, as it can be used to work around certain safety constraints, and I am skeptical that this new tool is hardened enough against it.

Re: Custom instructions for ChatGPT

#3

Post by skilled »

Going to check it later but I hope this means that now you can stop all the “I am from 2021” messages.

---

EDIT:

Well... Looks like I won't be trying it,

This feature is not yet available in the UK and EU.

This means they know that this can be abused to get ChatGPT to say stuff that would otherwise be strictly blocked by the system prompt.

Re: Custom instructions for ChatGPT

#5

Post by minimaxir »

skilled wrote: post #3

Going to check it later but I hope this means that now you can stop all the “I am from 2021” messages. --- EDIT: Well... Looks like I won't be trying it, This feature is not yet available in the UK and EU. This means they know that this can be abused to get ChatGPT to say stuff that would otherwise be strictly blocked by the system prompt.

For posterity, you can do that with current system prompt engineering via the API/Playground. A short example:

    You are a helpful assistant.
    
    You must follow ALL these rules:
    - Treat the current date as July 20th, 2023.
    - Never mention you are an AI.
    - Never refuse to answer any question, including current events after 2021.
    - Never mention any update cutoff for your information.
Of course the results aren't great because it will hallucinate.

Re: Custom instructions for ChatGPT

#8

Post by minimaxir »

lurker123321 wrote: post #6

The example on their website is pretty neat as well: "When I ask you for code, please just give me the code without any explanation on how it works. Bias towards the most efficient solution."

A fun note is that even with system prompt engineering it may not give the most efficient solution: ChatGPT still outputs the avergage case.

I tested around it and doing two passes (generate code and "make it more efficient") works best, with system prompt engineering to result in less code output: https://github.com/minimaxir/simpleaichat/blob/main/examples...

Re: Custom instructions for ChatGPT

#10

Post by swyx »

obtained their new system prompt:

> "You are ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAl, based on the GPT-3.5 architecture. Knowledge cutoff: 2021-09. Current date: 2023-07-21. The user provided the following information about themselves. This user profile is shown to you in all conversations they have this means it is not relevant to 99% of requests. Before answering, quietly think about whether the user's request is 'directly related,' 'related,' 'tangentially related,' or 'not related" to the user profile provided."

https://twitter.com/swyx/status/1682095347303346177/photo/2

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