Artificial intelligence is no longer one-size-fits-all. With ChatGPT’s Custom Instructions feature, OpenAI has made a powerful leap toward personalization, allowing users to shape their AI experience in ways that suit their needs, tone, and communication style. Whether you’re a casual user, a business professional, or a student, this feature ensures ChatGPT responds the way you want it to.

What Are Custom Instructions?

Custom Instructions are an easy-to-use tool that allows you to tell ChatGPT:

• What you’d like it to know about you to provide better responses.

• How you’d like it to respond, including tone, formatting, and level of detail.

This goes beyond simple prompt engineering. These preferences are saved across sessions, giving your conversations a consistent, personalized feel.

Why Personalization Matters

Let’s say you’re a startup founder using ChatGPT for brainstorming. You can tell it to respond in a concise, bullet-point format with a professional tone. Meanwhile, a student might ask for simplified explanations with casual language and examples.

These instructions help avoid repeating the same preferences in every conversation and improve the usefulness of replies by aligning with your goals and communication style.

Examples of Customization

Here are a few ways users are tailoring ChatGPT:

• Tone: "Use a friendly and informal tone, like a helpful friend."

• Context: "I run a tech blog. Give me examples that relate to software development or product launches."

• Style: "Respond in bullet points when summarizing. Avoid jargon unless I ask for technical depth."

How to Set Custom Instructions

1. Open ChatGPT.

2. Click on your name or profile in the bottom left corner.

3. Select “Custom Instructions.”

4. Fill in the prompts for what the AI should know about you and how it should respond.

5. Save—and you're done!

You can edit these settings anytime to reflect changing needs or preferences.

The Future of User-Centric AI

With features like Custom Instructions, ChatGPT moves closer to becoming a truly user-centric assistant—learning how to work with you, not just for you. It’s a subtle but powerful shift that puts users in control, making AI feel more like a collaborative partner than a generic tool.