Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
OpenAI has updated ChatGPT's personalization page.
The page includes personality options, memory toggles, and more.
Not all users feel seen or heard by the update.
OpenAI is making it easier for ChatGPT users to customize what it calls the chatbot's "personality" and communication style.
ChatGPT now offers an updated personalization page, which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previewed in a Tuesday X post. The new page includes a dropdown menu with a range of personality types, including "Cynic," "Robot, "Listener," and "Nerd," and a "custom instructions" prompt section, through which users can modify the chatbot's outputs with requests like "Avoid millennial jargon."
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There are also sections where you can specify your preferred nickname and occupation, and another where you can list personal "interests, values, or preferences" -- the purpose of which appears to be to create a conversational experience that feels more like chatting with a trusted friend or colleague than with an unfeeling machine. Toward the bottom of the updated page, which is accessible now via settings in ChatGPT, you can modify the chatbot's memory capabilities.
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