[SOLVED] I can NOT get OpenAI to stop using a complimentary close. Help!

Hi all. OK, I’m having an issue. Here is my prompt:

Write a response to this positive review from [NAME] in an informal and polite tone. Start by addressing [NAME] and be sure to thank them for choosing [COMPANY_NAME]. Use conjunctions. When addressing [NAME], do not use “dear”. Do not include a complimentary close in the response. Do not use a signature in the response:“[REVIEW]”

I finally got it to stop addressing the user with “Dear [NAME]”, but the response continues to include signatures like “All the best, [Business Name]”, :Regards, [Business Name]" or even worse - actually including text [Business Name] or [Restaurant].

What can I prompt to get the AI to absolutely, positively NOT include a complimentary close? Thanks for any help!

In my experience, you’ll want to avoid telling it what not to do, and repeating what you want it to avoid doing will just prime it to do that more. It doesn’t parse negation the same way a person, or even a more basic program does.

You might rephrase it as “Write the body of a response to a positive review”, which should leave out the introduction and signature

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Excellent suggestion, thanks! I’ll give that a try right now.

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ETA: Oops, @Dent beat me to it for once! :wink:

Hey, welcome to the community!

Sometimes, negative requests don’t work as well because GPT-3 “sees” the text (even with a DO NOT INCLUDE in front of it) and might skew toward that. So, you might try leaving the last two sentences off of your prompt.

Included below are two examples of your prompt with a one-shot example and another one with the modified prompt - ie w/out the negative instructions.

Hope this is helpful!

One-Shot Example w/negative instructions…

One-Shot Example w/negative instructions…

Zero-Shot Example w/out negative instructions…

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Excellent tips, thanks guys. I’m still having an issue. Here’s my prompt:

Please write the body of a response to this positive review from [NAME] in an informal and polite tone. Start by addressing [NAME] and be sure to thank them for choosing [COMPANY_NAME]. Use conjunctions. Do not use “Dear [NAME]” in the response. [REVIEW]

Here’s what I get when testing:

Hi Jeff Dahmer,

Thank you for your kind review and for choosing Local Biz Domination! We’re so glad to hear that you’ve had a positive experience. We are committed to providing only the best possible service and are grateful for your feedback.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything else we can do for you.

Best,
Local Biz Domination Team

Darn thing just insists on using a complimentary close. no matter what. It’s not a huge issue, but now it’s a point of OCD for me :smiley:

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What settings are you using? Seems to be working okay here…

Huh… just noticed something. If I leave out the “Response 1:” on the prompt, it gives it to me in your format… Can you try adding “Response:” to your prompt like I have it?

I think having “blank” or “space” tokens is confusing it a bit… or changing the output at least!

What is after the [REVIEW] in your prompt? Can you copy/paste a complete prompt with the review and including any spaces at the end? That might be your problem here…

I’m not in the playground, but using Pabbly - a Zapier type platform - to respond to GMB reviews as they come in. I’ve got it responding to 4+ star revies positively, and apologetically to 3 or less stars. Here’s an example of the input with settings:

I’m finding that if I don’t include the review in quotes, I’ll get weird artifacts at the start of the response, like sentence fragments, and I’m not offering any kind of response prompt - just letting it freestyle.

I think this prompt you suggested is pretty good though - less is more, and I think it’s doing a decent job so far. Much better than my clients, who don’t even bother to respond to reviews - which is why I’m building this out.

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Ah, okay. I bet it’s an extra space token or something that they’re appending to the prompt. When you end with a space token or \n character, the API doesn’t do as well with completions I’ve found.

Try a line-break after the [REVIEW] variable and then add “Response:” ending in a colon with no spaces. The service you’re using might still add something to the prompt, but I’ll bet you get better results not ending on the [REVIEW] part. They might even be adding a line-break or two to the prompt and not telling you…

Sounds like you’re getting closer, though! Keep at it.

The idea’s a good one, I think. Customer service is important these days.

ETA: You might also want to take temperature down to .8 or so… 1 might be too high…

I’m finding that if I don’t include the review in quotes, I’ll get weird artifacts at the start of the response,

This might be the temperature being too high too…

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Yup, I think you nailed it! Adding “Response:” did the trick I think. As far as what the service is posting, I believe their posting exactly what text is in there, and carriage returns are going through as \n without spaces, etc.

Thanks for the help!

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Good to hear!

I hope you stick around the community. Maybe someday you’ll be able to help someone else.

Have a great weekend!

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