What is OpenAI’s Custom Instructions Feature for ChatGPT

OpenAI revolutionised artificial intelligence by launching ChatGPT, a one-of-a-kind chatbot that took the world by storm.

The platform quickly became popular, reaching over 100 million users. But, all AI chatbots lack one essential feature: continuous memory. This means that everything is reset at the end of a conversation.

Well, OpenAI has decided to eliminate this problem and it is launching a feature known as ‘Custom Instructions’. This feature allows users to provide ChatGPT with specific instructions on how they want the chatbot to respond. 

Introducing Custom instructions! This feature lets you give ChatGPT any custom requests or context which you’d like applied to every conversation. Custom instructions are currently available to Plus users, and we plan to roll out to all users soon! https://t.co/fVIM9GeYk2

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— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 20, 2023

The feature will eliminate the need to provide instruction prompts everytime a user interacts with the AI chatbot. 

OpenAI’s blog states: “We’re rolling out custom instructions to give you more control over how ChatGPT responds. Set your preferences, and ChatGPT will keep them in mind for all future conversations.”

The company said that it heard the feedback of many users about the “friction” generated when starting a new conversation with the chatbot. 

This feature will be beneficial for users who rely on ChatGPT for their work or creative projects and carry a particular requirement for the prompts they use. 

Here are some of the benefits of this feature: 

• Improved accuracy: Customised Instructions will improve the accuracy of ChatGPT's responses. This is because the AI chatbot will be able to focus on the information that is most relevant to the user's instructions.
• Increased relevance: Customized Instructions can help ChatGPT tailor its responses to the user's specific interests and needs, resulting in more relevant answers to the prompts.
• Improved tone: Customized Instructions can help ChatGPT understand the user's desired tone and adjust its responses accordingly.

OpenAI’s blog mentions, “ChatGPT will consider your custom instructions for every conversation going forward. The model will consider the instructions every time it responds, so you won’t have to repeat your preferences or information in every conversation.” 

“For example, a teacher crafting a lesson plan no longer has to repeat that they're teaching 3rd grade science. A developer preferring efficient code in a language that’s not Python – they can say it once, and it's understood. Grocery shopping for a big family becomes easier, with the model accounting for 6 servings in the grocery list,” it adds.

How to Use Custom Instructions on ChatGPT?

The Customized Instructions feature is currently available to ChatGPT Plus users. OpenAI plans to roll out the feature to all users in the near future. The UK and EU users will have to wait for now, as the feature is not yet available in these regions. 

Here are the steps to enable this feature:

For iOS: 

• Open the ChatGPT app.
• Head to settings. 
• Turn on the Custom Instructions option.

For Web: 

• Open ChatGPT.
• Click on your name in the bottom left corner. 
• Tap on Custom Instructions. 
• Click on Show Tips for some examples of what instructions you can write.
• Enter your instructions in the two text boxes provided.
• Click Save. 

To conclude, OpenAI's launch of Custom Instructions for ChatGPT is a significant step forward in the development of large language models. This new feature will give users more control over how ChatGPT generates text, which will lead to more accurate and engaging results.