Why does ChatGPT 4o not know openai documentation?

Prompting
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4o consistently produces outdated code for its own api in node.js. When provided with a documentation link, it downright ignores it and returns the same outdated code. I understand that the knowledge cutoff plays a role, but why does trained knowledge outweigh input so much that it’s practically impossible to get it to generate fresh code?

I’ve even run into this issue when I provided a code snippet directly in the message and still got an outdated completion.

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Yeah, it’s definitely a problem at times. Part of the problem is that things are moving so quickly. You’d almost need to fine-tune a new model every week to keep up.

It costs more, but including the new docs can help most of the time.

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This is something we’re actively thinking about!

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Good to hear!

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Hello @trubear !!!

Thanks for sharing your experience! You’re raising a great point about how ChatGPT-4 behaves when handling newer documentation or code. Let me break down why this happens and how you might work around it.

Why This Happens

  1. Knowledge Cutoff:

ChatGPT-4 was trained on information up to a specific point, so anything published after that isn’t part of its knowledge base. That’s why it often produces outdated code by default.

  1. Bias Toward Trained Knowledge:

The model is heavily biased toward its pre-existing knowledge, which can sometimes overpower even clear input or documentation you provide during the chat.

  1. Prompt Challenges:

Even when you give the model a direct code snippet or documentation link, it might not fully “shift gears” and focus on the new input without detailed prompting.

How to Work Around This

Here are a few tips to help get better results:

  1. Be Explicit:

Try crafting a prompt that makes it clear the model should ignore its older knowledge, like:

• “Ignore what you know about the OpenAI API. Use only the information in this link: [link]. Generate Node.js code based on that.”

  1. Step-by-Step Guidance:

Break it into steps. For example:

• First, ask the model to summarize key points from the documentation link.

• Then, use that summary to request a specific code snippet.

  1. Use Dynamic Retrieval Tools:

If you’re doing this frequently, tools like LangChain or a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) setup can help. They allow you to feed updated information into the context dynamically, so the model generates answers based on the latest data.

A Bigger Idea

You’re touching on something a lot of users face. It might be worth OpenAI considering ways to let ChatGPT reference more real-time or community-driven content. For example, pulling in verified posts or discussions from forums like this could help bridge the gap between the model’s training data and the latest updates.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, some of these suggestions can help make your interactions with the model smoother. And keep sharing feedback like this—it’s important for improving how tools like ChatGPT handle real-world needs!

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