You will be able to write custom instructions that make every new chat start closer to what you need.
By now Priya, the HR executive from module 1, writes good briefs. She has noticed something, though. Half of every brief is the same: I work in HR at a logistics company in Singapore, use British spelling, no American date formats, keep it plain because many of our staff are not native English speakers, and please do not use bold headings in everything. She types some version of it several times a day.
Most assistants have a place to say those things once. This module is about setting up your assistant so the standing parts of your brief are already there when you open a new chat, starting with the simplest piece.
Most assistants let you set standing instructions that are added to every new chat. Depending on the product they may be called custom instructions, personal preferences, personalisation or something similar, and they usually sit in the settings menu. Whatever you write there is included with every conversation, in the same way your messages are, before the model writes its first word.
That last part matters. The model is not learning your preferences. As AI fundamentals lesson 5.1, The context window is the model's only working memory, explained, it only knows what is in front of it. Custom instructions simply put the same text in front of it every time, so you do not have to.
The exact location, length limit and behaviour differ between products and change from time to time. Check your assistant's help pages for where to find the setting and how long the text can be.
Good custom instructions cover the things that are true across almost all your chats. Five areas are worth considering.
Your role and work: what you do, in what kind of organisation, so answers are pitched at the right level. Your usual readers: who most of your writing is for, such as clients, staff, senior management or the public. Your location: in Singapore, this means the model will use Singapore examples, SGD and local institutions when they are relevant, instead of defaulting to American ones. Your spelling preference: British spelling, if you want it, has to be asked for, because many models default to American. And your formatting habits, both the ones you want and the ones you dislike, such as no tables unless asked, no headings in short answers, or always give dates as day, month, year.
Here is Priya's, at 97 words: "I work in HR at a logistics company in Singapore. Most of my writing is for frontline staff, many of whom read English as a second language, and for managers who want short answers. Use Singapore context and SGD unless I say otherwise. Use British spelling. Write dates as 1 July 2025, not 7/1. Keep answers short and plain unless I ask for detail. Do not use headings or bold text in answers under 200 words. Do not end with offers of further help. If you are unsure of a fact about Singapore employment rules, say so."
The last line is a good one to borrow. It asks for honesty about uncertainty in the area where she most needs it.
The temptation is to put everything in. Resist it. Custom instructions apply to every chat, including ones you have not thought of yet, and an instruction meant for one task will distort the others.
Priya's first attempt included "always write in the style of an internal announcement to staff." That was great for announcements. It was terrible when she asked for help with a reply to a recruitment agency, a summary of a long policy document and a list of questions for an interview, all of which came back sounding like staff notices. Task-specific instructions belong in the request itself, or in a project for that kind of task, which lesson 6.2, Projects: a workspace for each recurring job, covers.
A good test for each line: would I want this to apply to a question about my holiday plans? If the answer is clearly no, it is probably too specific. Under 150 words is a sensible target for most people. Shorter instructions are easier to keep accurate, and they leave the model more room to follow the request you actually type.
Once you have written them, check that they help. Pick a typical question, such as drafting a short message to your usual readers, and run it twice in fresh chats: once with the custom instructions switched on and once with them off. Most products let you toggle them, or you can clear the text temporarily.
Compare the two answers. The version with instructions should be closer to what you need: right spelling, right context, right length, fewer things to fix. If it is not, look for a line that is being ignored or one that is pulling answers in a direction you did not intend. Priya found her "keep answers short" line was cutting useful detail from policy explanations, so she changed it to "keep messages short; explanations can be as long as they need to be".
Before you write your own, spend a minute thinking about what you have typed into briefs more than twice this week. Those repeated lines are where your custom instructions should come from.
Write custom instructions of under 150 words covering your role, readers, Singapore context, British spelling if you want it and three formatting preferences.
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