BizTech Q&A 51: GPT-5 Prompt Framework

Answering your questions about business and technology

Question

There are differences between GPT-5 and the old models that I am used to using.  Do you have a framework that I can use with GPT-5 to help structure my prompts to get consistently better results?

~ Joe

Answer

Hi Joe,

Normally we’d have a back and forth so I could understand what kind of results you are getting now.  And so I can qualify “better”. 

I will give you a starting point though and hopefully things work out for you.

Here is a framework to use with GPT-5 (ChatGPT’s new model family) -

1. 1. Task
      1. Clearly define that task that you want it to do
   2. Desired output
      1. Format, length, etc.
   3. Context
      1. Give enough of the background story for it to complete the task
   4. Assumptions
      1. List relevant assumptions
   5. Constraints
      1. Define what is outside the scope of this tasking
   6. Allowed tools
      1. Let the model know which tools, resources, and/or methods can be used
   7. Forbidden tools
      1. Let the model know which tools, resources, and/or methods cannot be used
   8. Acceptance criteria
      1. How will the model know that things are correct?
   9. Readback
      1. Have the model layout its step-by-step plan before it starts so that you can see if it aligns with what you want

Sorry, I don’t have an easy to remember acronym for this one yet. 

This addresses some of the new models’ behaviors like automatic tool usage.  In some cases, even when people “turned off” certain tools, GPT-5 still used them.  Explicitly telling it not to use something has been (slightly) more effective.

As always, you’ll have to experiment to see what works for you.

This gives you somewhere to start.

Hope that helps

~ Damien