I tried OpenAI staff's 6 tips to get more out of ChatGPT

• OpenAI staff recently shared six tips on how to get better results from ChatGPT.

• I tested each one to see whether it actually improves the experience.

• The tips made my use of ChatGPT feel more intentional and smarter.

OpenAI staff recently shared several tips for getting more out of ChatGPT. I tried themand it felt like my chatbot got smarter.

The tips came from Christina Kima research lead in post-trainingand Laurentia Romaniuka product manager for model behaviorin an episode of "The OpenAI Podcast" published Wednesday.

1. Ask the hard questions

Kim said users should throw ChatGPT "harder questions" so it can "decide how much it wants to think." The tougher the promptthe deeper the reasoning.

Scrolling through my old chatsI realized I'd been doing the reverse — but for good reason. My job is to take complicated ideas and translate them for a general audienceso I mostly use ChatGPT for clarity checks or background research.

This weekI was reading about embodied intelligence and asked ChatGPT an easy question: "What is embodied intelligence?" It gave a cleansimple answer: AI systems embedded in physical agents like robots.

Wanting to understand the mechanics behind the conceptI asked a harder question: "How do robots fuse visionaudiotouchand feedback in real time?"

That's when the model shifted gears. It talked about multimodal sensor fusionspecialized encodersand cross-modal alignment — terms I'd never seen before and sounded like something overheard in a robotics lab.

I asked if this was PhD-level. ChatGPT answered: "Yes — roughly master's-to-early-PhD level."

2. Tell ChatGPT who to be

Romaniuk shared that her brothera biochemical Ph.D.once complained ChatGPT Pro was responding at an undergrad level — until she told him to specify his expertise. After he primed the model as a "frontier researcher," it produced an insight so advanced it mirrored a breakthrough his lab had made just two weeks earlier.

I'd never experimented with assigning the model a personaso I figured I'd try it on a low-stakes question: my coffee preference.

As someone who prefers cappuccinos to lattesmy usual explanation is simple: It tastes punchier and less milky.

I asked ChatGPT to become a barista who studied coffee the way sommeliers study wine and explain my preference to me.

The cappuccino-latte divide became a masterclass. It broke the differences into textureflavor balanceand mouthfeel. A cappuccino is light on top and dense underneath; the foam "lifts" the espressosharpening its flavor. A latteon the other handis silkier and more uniformwith milk that folds into the espresso and softens it.

I can now explain my coffee preference with something more informed than "it tastes nicer."

3. Audit the chatbot's memory

Romaniuk said memory is one of ChatGPT's strengths. It lets the model infer what a user really wants or proactively surface information they might care about.

Romaniuk said the way to stay in control is to audit what the model remembers: Delete anything you don't want it holding ontoor toggle memory on and off in the settings so the chatbot only draws from what you choose.

It's something I've been doing. I don't turn memory off because most of what I share ends up being useful later. But I do clear out meaningless or throwaway chats so they don't clutter things or muddy what the model learns about me.

It's paid off. ChatGPT now understands me as a journalist who interviews AI founders by day and trains for fitness races after hours. It answers like it knows I'm just as likely to ask about model behavior as I am about Hyrox training plans.

4. Ask ChatGPT to improve prompts

Kim said users can ask ChatGPT to help come up with better prompts.

I needed to understand free-electron laserswhich help create the high-energy light sources behind semiconductor manufacturing (for journalismof course). Instead of pretending I knew what to askI asked ChatGPT what questions I should be asking it.

It responded with a set of "high-leverage questions" — grouped from foundational to research-level — that showed me exactly how to think about the technology. For someone without much technical backgroundthis framing was helpful. ChatGPT was teaching me how to ask smarter questions.

5. Switch through personality modes

Romaniuk said she switches between ChatGPT's personality modes "all the time" to understand how each one feels. It's part of her job shaping model behavior.

One of her favorites is the "nerd" modewhich gives the model a "very exploratory response ," she said.

I love a good cynicso I asked ChatGPT in "cynical mode" to explain embodied intelligence.

It didn't move my work forwardbut the explanation made me laugh: "Embodied intelligence is one of those tech terms people throw around like everyone has a robotics Ph.D. hiding under their bed."

"People in AI land obsess over this."

6. Retry tasks regularly and 'pressure-test' the model

Romaniuk said she likes to "pressure test" the model — pushing it to its limits to see how it's changing over time.

For something that couldn't work nowit might work in three months' time. "Just keep at itkeep playingkeep trying," Romaniuk added.

I've been "pressure testing" the model through my Korean studiesregularly throwing it prompts that stretch its ability to break down the language. I've spent months asking ChatGPT to teach me grammarextract vocabulary from worksheetsand explain unfamiliar sentence structures.

Earlier versions often pulled out the wrong words or mixed up written forms. Nowit parses text accuratelydistinguishes between formal and polite formsand explains grammar in clearbeginner-friendly steps.

The tips made my use of ChatGPT feel more intentional. Some effects were smallothers more strikingbut they certainly nudged the model to reveal more of what it can do.

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