ChatGPT’s new personality settings let you pick the vibe — and it ranges from corporate calm to chaotic bestie

ChatGPT’s new personality settings let you pick the vibe - and it ranges from corporate calm to chaotic bestie Opinion The new Personalization setting in ChatGPT.(Image credit: OpenAI) (Image credit: Getty Images/ alexsl) Graham Barlow published New ChatGPT personalities range from “here’s your update” to “girl, you won’t believe this” The annual pre-Christmas volley of improvements to ChatGPT continues. At the end of last week, OpenAI launched a new set of personality controls called Characteristics in a bid to fix GPT-5’s often-criticized lack of warmth . As if to directly address that issue, there is now a literal Warmth setting, so you can make ChatGPT as cuddly as you like. Well, almost. I’d have preferred sliders for characteristics like “warmth” and “enthusiasm,” but instead you get three simple, if uninspiring, options for each characteristic - “more,” “default,” or “less.” All the new settings live in the Personalization menu, which you can access by clicking or tapping on your profile name. The characteristics you can modify with the new settings are warmth, enthusiasm, headers and lists, and emoji. So, if you don’t want your ChatGPT replies to feature lists and emojis, you know what to do now - just set them to “less.” This can be particularly handy if you’re the sort of person who never wants to see an emoji in a written reply outside of a text message. And I am. Mixing personality traits I’ve spent the weekend playing around with how these new settings affect ChatGPT’s personality, and I can report that they do exactly what they say on the tin. Change a setting and the effect on ChatGPT’s response is instant. Using the controls you can make it sound like a representative from your HR department, or an overly-dramatic friend. These four new settings are really meant to be used in combination with the more important option just above them, which was there already, called “Base style and tone.” This setting gives you the choice of Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Nerdy, and Cynical. So, what happens when you turn friendliness, enthusiasm, and warmth up to the max and tell ChatGPT that it’s only a few days until Christmas? You get this: “It really is - the final countdown has begun 🎄 That funny, slightly unreal stretch where everything feels festive and mildly chaotic at the same time. Are you in ‘nicely on top of things’ mode or ‘how is it the 22nd already’ mode? Either way, this is prime territory for small joys: good music on in the background, an excuse for an extra biscuit, and mentally clocking off just a bit earlier than usual. Anything you’re particularly looking forward to once Christmas actually lands?” You can almost feel the warmth hitting your fingers through the screen. Equally, if you switch the base tone to Professional and dial down the warmth and enthusiasm, you get this: “It really is right around the corner now. The run-up always seems to accelerate at this point - suddenly everything...

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