There’s something very satisfying about getting ChatGPT to talk to you like it’s Red from the Shawshank Redemption. It’s possible tocustomize ChatGPTto always talk this way, but it might not be appropriate for every chat you want to have. If only there were a way to create your own customizedAI chatbotthat speaks like Red that you could use whenever you wanted.
Well, the good news is that there is. ChatGPT allows you to create your owncustom GPTs, which are personalized chatbots that use your own set of instructions. You can create custom GPTs that can do almost anything you want, without needing any special expertise or technical know-how. All you need is the ability to write some instructions.
In fact, the hardest thing about creating custom GPTs isn’t knowing how to build them, it’s coming up with ideas for what they should do in the first place. Here’s how to build your own custom chatbot using ChatGPT.
With GPT-4o, ChatGPT can generate art with text that’s actually readable
OpenAI’s new GPT-4o model for ChatGPT finally fixes one of AI’s biggest flaws: Text on AI-generated images.
What is a custom GPT in ChatGPT?
Create your very own personalized chatbot
In ChatGPT, a custom GPT is a standalone chatbot that you’re able to customize to your exact specifications. You can add your own instructions to make your custom GPT behave exactly as you want it to. You could create a chatbot that automatically turns your family photos intoPixar-style animated characters. You might want to build a chatbot that can help you learn all the settings on your new digital camera by pulling information from an upload of the instructions.
In order to use the GPT builder in ChatGPT you’ll need a ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Enterprise subscription.
You don’t need any specialist skills to create a custom chatbot in ChatGPT. All you need to do is describe what you want it to do, and the GPT builder will do the rest. In order to use the GPT builder in ChatGPT, however, you’ll need a ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Enterprise subscription.
How to start building a new GPT in ChatGPT
Create a blank GPT to work with
In order to create a custom GPT in ChatGPT, you’ll need to use the desktop version. It’s not currently possible to create a custom GPT using the ChatGPT mobile app.
How to use ChatGPT to build your custom GPT
Get step-by-step guidance to create your chatbot
Once you’ve created your blank GPT, you’re ready to start building it. You don’t need any software orcoding skillsto do this; ChatGPT will walk you through the process. In this example, I’m going to create a custom GPT that will ask you to enter the last ten books that you enjoyed reading. It will then use this information to recommend other books that you might like to read.
It seems that positive instructions seem to work better than negative ones. Try ‘always use new authors’ rather than ‘don’t repeat authors’.
How to test your custom chatbot in ChatGPT
Take your GPT for a spin to see if it works
Once you’ve defined what you want your custom GPT to do, you can test it out in the right-hand pane. This is a working version of your custom GPT based on everything you’ve entered in your instructions.
Try interacting with your custom GPT in the right-hand pane to see if it behaves as you expect. You should see some suggested prompts that you can click to get started, or just start typing away. Your custom GPT should respond in the way that you specified in your instructions.
How to refine your custom chatbot in ChatGPT
Make changes to get exactly what you want from your GPT
If your custom GPT doesn’t work correctly, or there’s something that you hadn’t thought of that you want to add, start typing in the left-hand pane again. You canask ChatGPTto add in new features, tell it to remove some of the features you don’t like, or change things completely if you wish.
For my book recommendation GPT, I found it a bit tiresome having to type in the names of ten books. In theCreatetab, I asked ChatGPT to add the option to take a photo of the books and have ChatGPT extract the titles and authors of the books from the image.
Once I’d added this instruction, I was able to test it to see how well it worked. I uploaded a photo of a pile of books, and it extracted the titles and authors flawlessly. You can continue to tweak your custom GPT to get it working exactly the way you want it to.
How to configure your custom chatbot in ChatGPT
Manually edit the key settings to make changes
Using theCreatetab will automatically generate key information for your custom GPT such as the name, description, and instructions. However, you can change these and other key settings in theConfiguretab.
How to publish your custom GPT in ChatGPT
Unleash your creation on the world or keep it private
Once you’re happy with your custom GPT, you may publish it. This makes it available for you to use in ChatGPT and will add it to your sidebar so that you can access it quickly. You have the option to make your GPT available for other ChatGPT users, share it only with specific people, or you can opt to keep it private. If you make it public, anyone who uses it will be given a blank version of your GPT to use from scratch; it won’t contain any of the information you enter in your own copy of your custom GPT.
What can you do with custom GPTs?
The possibilities are mostly limited by your imagination
My book recommendations chatbot is one example of something you can build without any technical or programming skills at all. Using ChatGPT to help you build your custom GPTs allows you to create personalized AI chatbots that can do almost anything you want.
You could create a chatbot for your business by feeding it documents such as your company handbook or giving it access to your website, so that users can ask the chatbot for information. You couldgo beyond Duolingoto build a custom GPT that only uses Italian and will only respond if you type Italian back. If your Italian is incorrect, the custom GPT would show you where you went wrong. You could build a custom GPT that created a personalized workout schedule or one that offered personalized recipe suggestions based on the ingredients that you have available.
If you do have some technical skills, you can connect your custom GPTs to software APIs that can provide information to your custom GPT. For example, you could create a custom GPT that connects to the API of yoursmart home software. You would then be able to ask your custom GPT if your door is unlocked, or your heating is on. It could even be possible to control your smart home tech from your custom GPT just by asking the GPT to turn on the lights in your bedroom.
The good news is that there are plenty of ready-made custom GPTs available within the ChatGPT app, so there may already be one that does exactly what you want. You can also use the available GPTs as inspiration for creating your personalized GPTs, too. You can see the publicly available GPTs by selectingExplore GPTsfrom the sidebar.
