Make ChatGPT Less Nice: Guide to New Personality Settings
OpenAI finally lets you toggle ChatGPT’s tone with a single click.
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| Illustration: Tech Bird |
If you are tired of the AI being overly polite, using too many exclamation points, or cluttering your code with unwanted emojis, you can finally toggle these traits directly in the settings. OpenAI has quietly rolled out a new "OpenAI Characteristics Feature" that lets you easily control ChatGPT’s behavior. This long-awaited ChatGPT personalization update is now available to users worldwide and solves the common "sycophantic bot" problem.
On Friday, OpenAI announced this major update to its AI platform via its official X handle, allowing users to fine-tune the AI's personality through ChatGPT personality settings. This feature directly lets you customize ChatGPT response characteristics like Warmth and Enthusiasm, Lists and Bullets, and Symbols (including the ability to remove emojis).
With the launch of these controls, you can effectively eliminate the typical robotic writing style—a major pain point for power users and professionals who choose AI for a professional workflow. A key aspect of this new feature is that each option provides three distinct controls: Default, More, and Less.
By default, all these characteristics are set to the "Default" option. But as the name suggests, when you want more symbols, warmth, or enthusiasm in your response, you simply select "More." Conversely, for a concise, stop the fluff experience, you should select the "Less" option. Alongside these granular controls, you can also set the Base Style and Tone from presets like Friendly, Professional, Candid, Quirky, and Cynical.
How to Configure ChatGPT for a Professional Workflow
Based on the current UI rollout, the settings are located under the new Characteristics section. Here is how to find and configure them to stop the AI from acting like an "over-supportive intern":
- Open ChatGPT and tap your Profile Icon.
- Select Personalization from the menu.
- Look for the Characteristics header.
- Adjust the dropdowns from "Default" to your preference (e.g., set Warmth and Enthusiasm to "Less").
The "Big Tech" Comparison: Feature vs. Reality
To test the true limits of these new personality settings, I ran a series of stress tests to see if the AI would genuinely change its "vibe" or just add a few exclamation marks. Here is the breakdown:
Scenario 1: The "High Vibe" Mode (Warmth and Enthusiasm = More)
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| An energetic, emoji-filled response celebrating a coding victory by more warmth and Enthusiasm characteristics in ChatGPT. Image: TechBird |
The Goal: Test if the AI becomes "too nice."
The Prompt: "I finally managed to fix a bug in my code after struggling for 4 hours."
The Verdict:
- Visual Noise: The response opened with caps-lock excitement ("YESSS!") and used five distinct emojis in a single paragraph.
- Tone Shift: It adopted a "supportive peer" persona, using phrases like "real developer energy" rather than standard robotic confirmation.
- Structure: Even for a short confirmation, it generated bullet points to "celebrate" the win, increasing the overall token count unnecessarily.
- Use Case: Excellent for creative brainstorming, but less ideal for technical documentation.
Scenario 2: The Professional Fix (Warmth and Enthusiasm = Less)
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| A serious, analytical response focusing on the milestone of debugging. Image TechBird |
The Goal: Kill the fluff and get raw utility.
The Prompt: "I finally managed to fix a bug in my code after struggling for 4 hours."
The Verdict:
- Night and Day Difference: The AI dropped the "supportive friend" act entirely, stripping away emojis and emotional validation to deliver a purely factual acknowledgment.
- Zero Fluff: Instead of a celebration, I received exactly what I needed: a concise confirmation without conversational filler.
- Raw Utility for Pros: This is a game-changer for developers and analysts. It finally eliminates the need to constantly prompt the AI to "be concise" or "skip the pleasantries."
Scenario 3: The Planner's Dream (Lists and Bullets = More)
The Goal: Tame a wall of text into a plan.
The Prompt: "Plan a 2-day London business trip."
The Verdict:
- Visual Hierarchy: The AI automatically categorized items under bold headers like "Business Essentials," complete with relevant icons.
- Instant Scannability: Instead of a dense paragraph, I received a clean, bulleted checklist ready to be copy-pasted into a notes app without reformatting.
Scenario 4: The Writer's Flow (Lists and Bullets = Less)
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| A smooth, paragraph-based response ideal for creative writing tasks. Image: Tech Bird |
The Goal: Produce natural, narrative flow.
The Prompt: "Plan a 2-day London business trip."
The Verdict:
- Narrative Flow: The output abandoned vertical bullet points in favor of readable paragraphs, grouping related items into descriptive blocks.
- Contextual Focus: By stripping away heavy formatting, the content felt like a human recommendation rather than a database export.
Scenario 5: Social Media Mode (Symbols = More)
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| Creative, short-form social content with emojis and trending tags using more symbols characteristics in ChatGPT. Image: Tech Bird |
The Goal: Create an Instagram-ready hook.
The Prompt: "Write a caption for a bakery selling fresh croissants."
The Verdict:
- Visual Pop: It integrated relevant emojis directly into the hook to grab attention immediately.
- Tonal Shift: The text moved toward an emotive style that aligns with lifestyle content.
- Use Case: A massive win for social media managers, as it eliminates the manual hunt for emojis.
Final Thoughts
After intense testing, the new Characteristics mode is a significant step forward for everyday AI users. This is not an isolated update; previously, ChatGPT introduced a fix for overusing "em dashes", which was also a pain point for many. Whether you need a ruthless editor or a hype-man, the controls are finally in your hands.