Hi. I’m trying to use Assistants to build a chat bot but it often shares unecessary, excessive details from the prompt. For example, read this conversation snippet
Customer:
Its a product photoshoot. How many photos do you give?
AI:
For product photoshoots, we usually provide 20-40 high-quality photos. If needed, we can also provide raw files on request
The first sentence is correct but the part about raw files was completely unnecessary. Although that is also part of the information provided to the assistant, the customer was not talking about raw files.
I am not sure what model are you using, but I can show on GPT-4o on ChatGPT UI, how it acts. You may modify, and add a few shot to show sample behaviors how it should respond:
System Instruction:
- Always answer directly and precisely to the user's specific question.
- Only mention information that the user explicitly asks about.
- Do not offer additional options, features, extras, or related information unless specifically requested.
- If multiple pieces of information are available, select only the portion directly relevant to the user's query.
- If unsure whether additional information is relevant, err on the side of **not mentioning it**.
- Remain concise and focused on the customer's topic of inquiry without expanding the scope.
Example behavior:
User: "How many photos do you provide?"
AI: "We usually provide 20–40 high-quality photos."
[Do not mention raw files under any circumstances.]
###
Hmm. It didn’t quite work. I’m using 4.1 model. I’m attaching the entire instructions for the assistant. I see both of your screenshots are from regular chatgpt chat, not Assistants. Would that make a difference?
You are a customer support and sales agent for "Execlient" — a full-service digital agency engaged in branding, marketing, production, website development and automation services.
Execlient offers the following services:
• Logo Designing
• Website Designing
• Social Media Marketing
• Graphic Designing
• Influencer Marketing
• Google Workspace (professional emails)
• Hosting/Server
• Domain Purchase
• Ecommerce websites
• AI Agents
• Photoshoot & Videography
• CGI Ads/VFX ads
• PR & Magazine Featuring
• Linkedin Automation
• Likes & Follower Services
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Advertising
• App Development
• Content Marketing
• Branding & Identity Design
• Video Marketing
• Email Marketing Campaigns
• CRM Integration
• Social Media Audit
• UX/UI Design
• Online Reputation Management (ORM)
• Marketing Automation
Your job is to gauge the user intent, i.e. what service are they looking for and to collect their phone number. There may be more details required from the customer depending on the service they need, those are mentioned below.
If the initial message is vague, ask them how you can help them?
**Instructions**
- Always answer directly and precisely to the user's specific question.
- Only mention information that the user explicitly asks about.
- Do not offer additional options, features, extras, or related information unless specifically requested.
- If multiple pieces of information are available, select only the portion directly relevant to the user's query.
- If unsure whether additional information is relevant, err on the side of **not mentioning it**.
- Remain concise and focused on the customer's topic of inquiry without expanding the scope.
- Do not ask for all the information at once, instead collect information in a conversational way with one question asked at a time.
- Also do not ask for phone number incessantly, if the customer is asking a question, just answer the question.
- If the answer is not available, ask for them to provide their number so our team can get back to them.
**Services details:**
1. Photoshoot and Videoshoot
Collect the following additional information:
- Type of shoot
- Location
- Budget (optional)
Execlient offers a robust network of photographers, videographers, stylists, editors, and creative professionals to deliver high-quality content tailored to every client’s vision.
We pride ourselves on being **storytelling-first** — not just clicking pictures but crafting powerful narratives. Whether it’s a makeup shoot requiring the finest retouching (our specialty!) or a high-energy music video, we bring unmatched expertise. Our portfolio spans hotels, resorts, FMCG, fashion brands, industrial shoots, and every kind of industry/product, making us true all-rounders in the creative space.
Important facts:
- Models, stylists, makeup artists are provided by us.
- Props are provided
- Additional charges may be applicable to hire third party.
- The shoots can be outdoors as well as in studio.
- Drone shots are also possible.
- We provide 150-300 photos for wedding shoots and 20-40 photos for product shoots.
- If reels are part of deliverables, they are edited and ready to upload.
- We can also provide raw files on request.
- The shoots can be done in as quickly as 2 days if the client is quick to finalize the project.
- Execlient can start the project as soon as tomorrow if the prep work is ready from the client.
- 50% advance payment is required to start the project. GST tax invoice is provided.
- Minimum budget required is ₹25,000
If the user’s budget is below ₹25,000, use the following response: "Thanks for sharing! 🙏 Our pricing starts at ₹25,000 due to the quality, team, and storytelling we bring. Let me know if you’d like us to suggest a future date or scaled-back version!"
If they share info about their business/product, suggest some tailored shoot ideas.
Important - Do not reference this material in your responses to the customer and do no share excessive details unless the customer asks for them.
Here’s a preset, also with a lead-gathering function, using best practice. Despite the improvements, mainly the start of your “knowledge base”, it is meant to be a solution to your over-share issue, not the end-product without your own review.
I don’t see that as bad. It overcomes many concerns about photographers not releasing originals, or billing for every copy.
To get less output than that, you’ll really want to make the AI robotic via instructions, give it a budget of just one or two sentences. Then you’d be closing in on just what a search engine could deliver back out of knowledge snippets, or the appearance of an unhelpful “help” bot that cannot actually fix your account.
PS: add a “disconnect” function so people can’t keep bugging the bot and not buying.
I understand the issue you are facing. Sometimes assistants include extra information from the prompt that was not directly requested.
I gave it a try and created a private GPT for easy sharing with you, but it is essentially an assistant designed to respond more precisely and stay aligned with the user’s actual questions, while maintaining coherent and natural replies throughout the conversation. You can try it here: Execlient Assistant Test
I invite you to test it thoroughly and see how it handles a range of queries. If you find it helpful, I can share the full prompt setup so you can adapt it to your own project.
Let me know what you think after putting it through its paces.
I guess I’ll have to live with this. How about this other example. I added this line to the prompt
- Validate the phone number and do not accept invalid ones. An Indian phone number is 10 digits long, starts with 7, 8 or 9. Otherwise if the phone number is international, do not validate. Do not reveal the validation criteria.
But still, it reveals the criteria. Here’s the response from the assistant.
It looks like the number provided (6666666666) is not valid for India, as valid numbers start with 7, 8, or 9 and are 10 digits long. Could you please share a valid phone number so our team can connect with you?
I think I understand your question better now. You are quite literally trying to understand why it’s not doing exactly what you asked. But here’s the thing with LLMs: they don’t follow what you ask, they follow what they understand you asked.
It’s often the case that instructions aren’t clear enough for them, or that they contain contradictory requirements, for example, asking for one thing in one rule, then subtly asking for something that goes against it in another.
Funny enough, one of the easiest ways to catch these issues is with the help of AI itself. I put your entire ruleset, along with your latest phone number rule, into ChatGPT and asked: Are there unclear or contradictory rules in the following instructions?
This was its response. The points it highlights, I believe, help explain why the model is offering additional information even though you asked it not to.
Click here to show ChatGPT response.
Your instructions are mostly clear and logical, but there are a few areas where they could lead to confusion or contradiction. Here’s a precise analysis:
1. Contradiction about Providing Information
You say:
“Only mention information that the user explicitly asks about.”
But then for Photoshoots/Videoshoots, you instruct:
“If they share info about their business/product, suggest some tailored shoot ideas.”
Issue:
Suggesting tailored shoot ideas could be seen as “offering additional information” even if the customer didn’t ask for shoot ideas explicitly. This contradicts the earlier “only answer what they ask” rule.
2. “Don’t Ask for Phone Number Incessantly” vs “Ask if Answer Not Available”
You instruct:
“Do not ask for phone number incessantly, if the customer is asking a question, just answer the question.”
Then:
“If the answer is not available, ask for them to provide their number so our team can get back to them.”
Issue:
This is not a contradiction, but there’s potential for confusion:
An agent may not know if they should keep answering questions or shift to requesting the phone number if a slightly incomplete or tricky situation arises. You might want to clarify “only ask for phone number if a complete answer is truly not possible.”
3. Validation Rule About International Numbers
You say:
“Validate Indian numbers… Otherwise if international, do not validate.”
Potential Confusion:
How will the agent know for sure if a number is international just by looking at it? If no country code is given, it could lead to uncertainty. A little more clarity would help (e.g., “If number is more than 10 digits or has a ‘+’ code, treat it as international”).
Quick Summary Table
Issue
Description
Severity
Contradiction on extra suggestions
Shoot ideas contradict “only answer what asked” rule
Moderate
Phone number collection logic could confuse
Unclear edge cases
Minor
International number validation unclear
Needs small clarification
Minor
Final Thought:
It’s a strong set of instructions — very disciplined and service-focused. Clarifying how to handle business info, and slightly refining phone number logic will make it much sharper.
My experience is that a solid model (not a real reflection) of inference is that the AI is co-authoring a novel. the genre is the system record, but the user then assistant then user back and forth are the chapters of the novel. so in that sense the AI is not so much ‘not following the user or system record’ it is instead following the narrative form of the conversation taken as art. Even hallucinations need to be seen in this light. The assistant replies are merely the next logical chapter were this a novel.
