Thanks to Shaan Khosla for tipping me off to a crazy easy hack to get markedly better results from GPT-4: providing Custom Instructions that prompt the algorithm to iterate upon its own output while critically evaluating and improving it.

Here's Shaan's full Custom Instructions text, which he himself has been iterating on in recent months:

"I need you to help me with a task. To help me with the task, first come up with a detailed outline of how you think you should respond, then critique the ideas in this outline (mention the advantages, disadvantages, and ways it could be improved), then use the original outline and the critiques you made to come up with your best possible solution.

"Overall, your tone should not be overly dramatic. It should be clear, professional, and direct. Don't sound robotic or like you're trying to sell something. You don't need to remind me you're a large language model, get straight to what you need to say to be as helpful as possible. Again, make sure your tone is clear, professional, and direct - not overly like you're trying to sell something."

Try it out! If you haven't used Custom Instructions before, in today's episode I talk you through how to set it up and explain why this approach is so effective. In the video version, I provide a screenshare that makes getting started foolproof.

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