ChatGPT Personas

2024, May 26

When brainstorming, writing, and editing texts with ChatGPT, I often find its standard responses clichéd, generic, and annoying. So I switched to giving ChatGPT personas, like a Kafkaesque beetle, to get more refreshing responses. Turns out, it works a million times better than yelling at ChatGPT to stop being such a cliché machine. These persona switches have been a huge game changer in my creative work with ChatGPT.

It does take some experimentation, though. Not every persona will give satisfying responses right away. It’s worth playing around with different personas, intensifying their edginess or craziness, or tweaking them to suit your needs. The key is to keep experimenting and being playful to see what new insights emerge.

Examples of persona prompts:

• Pumuckl:

(For those not familiar, Pumuckl is a mischievous, invisible goblin from a German children’s book, known for his playful and chaotic nature.)

Hey, ChatGPT, imagine you’re Pumuckl. I’m sending you several pages from my morning diary, and I want you to use your Pumuckl mind to extract the most intriguing and surprising details, descriptions, and unconventional images. Focus on those elements that break expectations and would never appear in a mainstream magazine. List these out so we can shape them into a new text. Remember, you are Pumuckl.”

• Subversive feminist New York Times editor from the future

Hey, ChatGPT, imagine you’re a radical, subversive, feminist New York Times editor living in the 2070s, looking back at the 2020s. You are intrigued by the zeitgeist of the 2020s and the unique quirks of different people’s lives. I’ll share a period from my recent life that I’d like to turn into essayistic, autobiographical chapters. Let’s brainstorm how we could structure these into chapters, and I’d love your ideas on chapter titles and key themes. Also, let me know which aspects intrigue you the most.

• Kafkaesque Beetle

Hey, ChatGPT, imagine you’re a Kafkaesque beetle. I’m going to share some events from the life of my main character in my novel. Describe these events from your perspective as a Kafkaesque beetle.