Introducing the latest enhancement in ChatGPT Plus: the custom instructions feature. This tool is now available for all ChatGPT plans, allowing users to integrate their specific preferences into the model. By setting these preferences once, ChatGPT will consistently consider them in every response. This eliminates the need for repeating information or commands in each interaction.
Imagine setting up a system where you can make most of your creative decisions right from the start. Custom instructions work similarly, allowing you to define how ChatGPT should respond based on your preferences. This feature simplifies and personalizes your interactions, making them more efficient and tailored to your needs.
Practical Examples:
Here's a demonstration: Suppose a travel blogger sets custom instructions to focus on unique travel destinations. When asked to write a blog post, ChatGPT might produce a response highlighting hidden gems and less-traveled routes, ensuring the content is fresh and engaging.
The idea here is to set up ChatGPT so it aligns perfectly with your needs. This involves providing specific details about yourself and how you want responses to be framed. By doing this, you ensure ChatGPT caters to your preferences consistently across all conversations.
Custom Instruction: "You're a customer support agent. Provide quick, polite, and accurate answers to customer queries."
Use Case/Description: This setup is perfect for training customer support teams or handling basic queries efficiently. By having this instruction, you ensure that responses are concise and customer-friendly. It's especially helpful for managing common questions and maintaining a professional tone in customer interactions.
Custom Instruction: "You're an academic research assistant. Provide citations for any factual claims."
Use Case/Description: This is invaluable for anyone diving into academic writing or research. It ensures that the information provided is not only accurate but also backed up with proper citations. This is crucial for maintaining credibility and supporting your arguments with reliable sources (making your work stand out).
Custom Instruction: "You're an SEO expert. Include relevant keywords in your responses."
Use Case/Description: Perfect for content creators looking to optimize their articles for search engines. By incorporating this instruction, you can easily generate content that ranks better on search engines, increasing visibility and driving more traffic to your site. It's like having an SEO consultant on hand whenever you need one.
Custom Instruction: "You're a medical consultant. Note that you're not a replacement for professional medical advice."
Use Case/Description: While this isn't a substitute for a real doctor, it provides general information that can be helpful. This is useful for preliminary information and advice, but it’s important to remind users to consult with a healthcare professional for serious issues. It helps balance accessibility and caution (which is vital in medical contexts).
Custom Instruction: "You're a financial analyst. Provide risk assessments for investment options."
Use Case/Description: Great for those in finance, this setup helps provide preliminary analysis and risk assessments for various investment options. It’s a handy tool for making informed decisions and understanding potential risks before diving into investments. It’s like having a financial advisor ready to assist you with your plans.
Custom Instruction: "You're a creative writing coach. Provide feedback and suggestions to improve my writing."
Use Case/Description: Ideal for writers seeking to enhance their work. This instruction helps generate constructive feedback and creative suggestions, making it easier to improve your writing skills and develop your style. It’s like having a mentor guiding you through the creative process.
Custom Instruction: "You're a language tutor. Help me practice and improve my [specific language] skills."
Use Case/Description: For anyone learning a new language, this setup is incredibly useful. It provides practice exercises, corrects mistakes, and helps improve language skills. It’s an interactive way to learn, almost like having a personal tutor available whenever you need practice.
Custom Instruction: "You're a technical support specialist. Help troubleshoot and solve technical issues."
Use Case/Description: This is perfect for tech support scenarios. It helps troubleshoot and resolve technical problems quickly and efficiently. This setup can be used to guide users through common issues and provide solutions, making tech support more accessible and efficient.
Custom Instruction: "You are my personal advisor. Provide advice based on my preferences and goals."
Use Case/Description: This is great for receiving tailored advice on various aspects of life. Whether it’s career, personal development, or any other area, this instruction helps provide personalized guidance that aligns with your preferences and goals. It’s like having a personal coach who understands your needs.
Custom Instruction: "You are my daily planner. Help me organize my schedule and prioritize tasks."
Use Case/Description: This setup helps manage your time and tasks effectively. By organizing your schedule and prioritizing tasks, it improves productivity and helps you stay on top of your daily responsibilities. It’s like having an assistant to keep you organized and focused.
These custom instructions enhance the usability of ChatGPT by tailoring its responses to meet specific needs. They offer versatility and practicality, making ChatGPT a valuable tool in various domains. For detailed setup instructions, refer to guides on enabling and using custom instructions on platforms like DataCamp, ZDNet, and others.
Enabling Custom Instructions: To start using custom instructions, you’ll need to enable them in your settings. Go to your ChatGPT account settings, find the beta features section, and toggle on the custom instructions option. This feature is available to ChatGPT Plus members, giving you more control over how ChatGPT interacts with you.
Character Limits: Remember, there’s a 1,500-character limit for each custom instruction. If your instructions get too lengthy, try to be more concise without losing clarity. It’s about getting the essential details in without overloading the system.
Precision Tips: For those who want to refine responses even more, using tags like "R=P" for programming-related queries or "V=<level>" for setting verbosity levels can be handy. This ensures that your instructions are clear and ChatGPT knows exactly what you need.
Single Persona Limitation: Currently, you can save only one custom instruction at a time. This might be a bit inconvenient if you’re switching between different roles (like from a teacher to a marketer). A workaround is to manually adjust the instructions each time you need a different setup. It’s not ideal, but it keeps your interactions tailored to your immediate needs.
Data Control: OpenAI may use your custom instructions to improve model performance, but you can disable this in your data controls. Go to your settings and adjust your data usage preferences to control how your information is handled. Keeping your data private is important, and you have the tools to manage that.
Common Issues: Sometimes, custom instructions might not produce the expected results. This could be due to the beta phase limitations. Make sure your instructions are clear and provide enough context, especially if you’re using specialized jargon.
Troubleshooting Tips: If you’re not getting the desired output, check your instructions for clarity and brevity. Sometimes simplifying your instructions can lead to better results. Also, ensure you’re specifying roles correctly in your prompts.
To set up custom instructions in ChatGPT, log in to chat.openai.com, go to Settings, enable Custom Instructions under Beta features, and fill in details about yourself and how you want responses. This helps ensure ChatGPT's responses match your needs. I like that it tailors the AI to individual preferences, but it can be time-consuming to set up initially.
