Is this the most annoying habit of ChatGPT-5?
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I’ve been using ChatGPT-5 since it launched a few weeks ago, and it’s reasonably impressive. ChatGPT-5–5 does a far better job of referencing past conversations and chats… without needing a lot of context. I say “reasonably” as the latest AI model still struggles with some basic tasks like counting numbers and letters, which I wrote about a few days ago. It’s also got a rather annoying habit of answering almost every response with another question. I asked ChatGPT-5 how it could help me optimize my time. It gave me a few ideas and then said: “Do you want me to start doing this explicitly—like labeling my answers with Time / Cashflow / Risk / Focus impact?” I asked about a scammy-looking email. ChatGPT-5 finished its response with: “Do you want me to check what the real Celsius distribution emails look like so you can compare?” I asked ChatGPT-5 if a minor laceration on my knee needs a tetanus shot, and it said: “Do you want me to give you the decision rules for when a booster is recommended based on last dose + wound type?” I asked ChatGPT-5 about a DM to a client, and it said “Do you want me to make this even shorter (pure LinkedIn-DM style, 2–3 lines), or keep it slightly fuller like above?” At first… these questions were helpful. But they turned into distracting tangents that lengthened the amount of time I spent talking to ChatGPT-5. Perhaps that’s OpenAI’s intention?! It’s like ChatGPT has turned into an annoying waiter who checks on me every five minutes to see what I need next. I’m not the only one who dislikes this new ChatGPT habit. Sarah wrote in to say, “It seems to have an agenda. Instead of staying exploratory with me, it’s a little more ”aggressive“ about ”want me to make that into a worksheet for you?" If you want to turn this off, you’ve two options. Start a prompt with this shortcode [DIRECT]. No more tangents….but that also reduces the length of ChatGPT’s answer. If that’s an issue, append your prompt with “No tangents. Just provide the output.” I tried setting this as a custom instruction for ChatGPT, but it ignores it. This prompt only works in specific chats or projects. If you need more help using AI, check out Prompt Writing Studio.
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