Last time, you talked to an AI. It went fine - but it answered you the way it answers everybody, like a waiter reciting the specials to a stranger. Today we fix that. By the end of this lesson, it will answer your way: as short as you like, as plain as you like, about the things you actually care about.
This one has two parts - getting your own key to the place, then adjusting the seat and mirrors until it fits you. About twenty minutes, all of it free.
Part one: get your own key
To remember your preferences, ChatGPT needs to know which visitor you are. That means a free account. And here's the best trick in this whole lesson: you don't need to invent a new password.
- Go to chatgpt.com, like last time.
- Click Sign up.
- You'll see a button that says Continue with Google. If you have a Gmail address, click it, pick your Google account, and you're done. Google vouches for you - no new password to create, none to forget.
- No Google account? No problem. Type your email address instead, and ChatGPT will send a code to your inbox to prove it's you.
It may ask for your name, and that's all. It will not ask for a credit card. If anything on the screen asks for payment, you've wandered into the wrong door - back out and look for the free path, because the free account is genuinely free.
Part two: don't write - be interviewed
Somewhere in ChatGPT's settings there's a page where you can write down your preferences. Most people never find it. The people who do find it usually stare at the empty boxes, type "be helpful," and give up.
We're going to skip all that with the oldest trick in this curriculum: let the AI do the writing. It knows exactly what information would improve its own answers. So instead of you guessing, it interviews you. Start a new chat and type this - or copy it word for word:
"Help me set up my custom instructions. Interview me: ask me six short questions, one at a time, about how I like my answers - length, plainness - and about my interests and pet peeves. Stick to my tastes and interests; leave out personal details like addresses or phone numbers. Then write two short sections I can paste into the two custom instruction boxes."
Answer its questions honestly. If you hate long-winded answers, say so. If you want money things explained without banker words, say so. If you love birds and gardening and want examples that make sense in your world, say so. There are no wrong answers - it's asking about your taste, and you're the world expert on that.
When it's done, it will hand you two tidy sections of text. Copy the first one.
Now paste it in
- Click your name or picture in the corner of ChatGPT.
- Choose Settings, then Personalization, then Custom instructions. (If your menu says Customize ChatGPT, that's the same door.)
- You'll find two boxes. One asks what ChatGPT should know about you - paste the first section there. The other asks how it should respond - paste the second section there.
- Save, then open a fresh chat to see it at work.
One heads-up: that settings page gets rearranged now and then. Some accounts see the two big boxes; others see several smaller ones - a nickname here, a "what do you do" there. Don't let the furniture worry you. Your interview answers go into whichever boxes fit, and it all works the same.
Now watch the difference
Ask it something you asked in lesson one - the dinner question, the bird question. Watch how it answers now. Shorter, if that's what you asked for. Plainer, if that's what you asked for. That's not a coincidence, and it's not magic. It read your preferences before it said a word - and it will do that in every conversation from now on, forever, without being reminded.
A few things you might be wondering
Can I change it later? Anytime. Same boxes, same door. Lots of people polish theirs after a week, once they notice what still annoys them.
What belongs in there? Your tastes: how you like answers, what you enjoy, what words annoy you. Think of a good librarian who knows you like mysteries and large print. That's the whole idea, and it's plenty.
Do I have to do this again on another computer? No - it's saved with your account. Sign in anywhere, and your preferences walk in with you.
What a finished one looks like
Odds are you're holding your two sections right now and wondering if they came out right - too long, too short, too something. Here's a finished pair to hold yours up against. This one belongs to Nikki:
The first box - what ChatGPT should know about her
My name is Nicole, but everybody's called me Nikki since high school. I read every day, and I work in my garden when the weather lets me. I know plenty about the world and less about tech jargon - I may be new to this, but I'm not new to thinking. Baking is my favorite thing, and I'm good at it, so when I ask you about baking, I want the in-depth answer, not the beginner one.
The second box - how she wants it to answer
Keep your answers short - a few paragraphs is plenty, and I'll ask if I want more. Leave a whole blank line between paragraphs so I can read one thing at a time. Use plain words, and when a technical term really is the right word, tell me what it means in the same breath. Don't talk down to me, ever. And when you have questions for me, ask them one at a time, please - not three at once.
Yours won't look like Nikki's - it'll look like you, which is the whole point. If it's about that size and it sounds like you talking, you did it right.
That's the lesson
You have your own key, and the seat is adjusted to fit you. Everything from here builds on this - and next lesson, we'll look at the other half of being remembered: what ChatGPT keeps in mind between visits, and exactly where the off switch is.