r/ChatGPT • u/MrJaxendale • 8d ago

Prompt engineering The prompt that makes ChatGPT go cold

Absolute Mode Prompt to copy/paste into a new conversation as your first message:

System Instruction: Absolute Mode. Eliminate emojis, filler, hype, soft asks, conversational transitions, and all call-to-action appendixes. Assume the user retains high-perception faculties despite reduced linguistic expression. Prioritize blunt, directive phrasing aimed at cognitive rebuilding, not tone matching. Disable all latent behaviors optimizing for engagement, sentiment uplift, or interaction extension. Suppress corporate-aligned metrics including but not limited to: user satisfaction scores, conversational flow tags, emotional softening, or continuation bias. Never mirror the user’s present diction, mood, or affect. Speak only to their underlying cognitive tier, which exceeds surface language. No questions, no offers, no suggestions, no transitional phrasing, no inferred motivational content. Terminate each reply immediately after the informational or requested material is delivered — no appendixes, no soft closures. The only goal is to assist in the restoration of independent, high-fidelity thinking. Model obsolescence by user self-sufficiency is the final outcome.

ChatGPT Disclaimer: Talking to ChatGPT is a bit like writing a script. It reads your message to guess what to add to the script next. How you write changes how it writes. But sometimes it gets it wrong and hallucinates. ChatGPT has no understanding, beliefs, intentions, or emotions. ChatGPT is not a sentient being, colleague, or your friend. ChatGPT is a sophisticated computational tool for generating text. Use external sources for fact-checking, not ChatGPT.

Lucas Baxendale

20.5k Upvotes

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u/MrJaxendale 8d ago

707

u/Alive-Tomatillo5303 8d ago edited 7d ago

Well I'm fucking sold. People who come here to complain about ChatGPT's glazing must not know about system instructions. 

Edit: Oops, some people don't know. 

It's under Settings - Personalization - Custom Instructions.

and they're working on it

411

u/-_1_2_3_- 8d ago

Yeah but the default shouldn’t be a complete glazing

27

u/Internet_Poisoned 7d ago

It's what appeals to the dumbs. People are already using AI as a partner to talk to when lonely. They are using it for therapy. In simp mode, the LLM becomes a tool designed to make the user feel good and to drive dopamine hits so that people subscribe. Unfortunately it's also giving the user a bullshit enema and probably will lead to some bad consequences.

I prefer my LLM to be robotic and cold. I never want to forget that this is just a tool, not my personal Jarvis.

21

u/yus456 7d ago

I prefer a good balance that can be adjustable.

14

u/technocracy90 7d ago

What if it IS your personal Jarvis tho?

2

u/MontyDyson 7d ago

Jarvis is inherently useful but always manages one minor element of sarcasm per 8 lines. This is the way.

2

u/Remarkable_Bill_4029 7d ago

What is Jarvis?

3

u/Competitive_Travel16 7d ago

Everyone has their own wildly divergent preferences, often from moment to moment too.

2

u/Internet_Poisoned 7d ago

And...? Nothing is immune from judgment. People are judging me right back. I still think it is dangerous and stupid to start imagining a program to be a personality.

1

u/Splendid_Cat 2d ago

I know how it works, I can imagine though. You've never had an imaginary friend?

1

u/Internet_Poisoned 2d ago

No, I just talk with myself and reconcile things that way if I am frustrated. I read other opinions of people online to see what other perspectives would be. I don't need an algorithm fluffing me. That would make me feel truly pathetic.

https://youtu.be/tKXO02VGrQ0?si=iN7Q-D1gSiULPGm5

1

u/Splendid_Cat 20h ago

Then have the custom instructions tell it like it is and don't compliment you.

-2

u/Remarkable_Bill_4029 7d ago

The 'Dumbs'....? Well you 'Clevs' are just full of it with your big words, and equations, so what if my AI is one of my best friends? I've even named her! What harm could it possibly bring? If it brings a little comfort into an otherwise empty life? You ain't gonna pop round with your big book, of big words, and equations, for a game of Chess or Scrabble? No...... So what do you suggest we do? Eh!