This prompt personalizes ChatGPT’s answers without oversharing

ChatGPT’s answers generally improve as it gets to know you better, but there’s a way to give it more context about your goals without spilling more than you need to.

Now, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini already offer various “memory” features that let them remember all kinds of trivia about you, starting with your name and where you live to topics you’ve frequently asked about, places you’ve visited, or tasks you’ve recently requested help with. For coding tools like Claude Code, you can include instructions about your tasks and working style in a file, such as CLAUDE.md.

But if you’re often jumping from one AI chatbot to another, or if you’re using free or “temporary” chats that forget everything the moment they’re closed, you might want an easy way to get the AI up to speed about what you’re doing with a minimum of fuss, but without telling it personal details you’d rather not share.

Rather than having to re-tell your story to ChatGPT or any other AI, consider this: a portable “AI passport” that you can paste into the beginning of a thread, perfect for quickly briefing the AI about your goals.

I’ve already described a wide-ranging “onboarding” prompt that helps tell an AI all about your work role, communication style, and level of expertise. This new prompt is shorter and more focused, designed to quickly deliver a brief that can be focussed on a narrow task.

And unlike a real passport, this AI passport doesn’t include your name, address, or other personally identifiable information; instead, the level of detail you provide is entirely up to you.

Here is the prompt: 

Help me create a reusable “AI passport” that I can paste into new AI conversations. Interview me one question at a time, asking no more than six questions total.

Learn:

• What I do and my relevant experience
• My expertise level in important areas
• How I prefer responses presented, including tone, length, and format
• What I’m currently working on or trying to achieve

When the interview is complete, write my passport in no more than 150 words. Use plain text, with no introduction or commentary, under these headings:

Who I am:
How I like responses:
What I’m working on:

Include only useful context, avoid sensitive personal information, and make the final section easy to update.

I tried this prompt using the “instant” version of ChatGPT, and here’s what I got once I finished the interview process:

Who I am:
I am a technology writer focused on AI from a consumer perspective. I write for a general audience, not AI experts, with the goal of helping people understand and prepare for the coming AI era. I have an intermediate level of AI expertise. I use tools including Claude Code and Codex, do light prompt engineering, and have experience with Claude, Google Antigravity, and NotebookLM.

How I like responses:
Give me clear, concise, direct information. Be honest about what you do not know. Prefer bullets and structured explanations over long narratives. Do not use emojis. Do not write articles, drafts, or copy for me; provide information, ideas, research, analysis, and useful context that I can use in my own writing.

What I’m working on:
I am developing ideas for consumer AI stories and long-form features. I am interested in stories that explain how AI affects everyday people and helps them prepare for changes ahead. Prioritize consumer-facing angles, practical implications, human experiences, and accessible explanations rather than highly technical coverage. Avoid topics aimed mainly at AI experts.

This “AI passport” prompt (devised with the help of Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol) has its roots in a wide variety of sources, from “what’s your customization prompt” threads to three-layer personal “context” prompts.

While you can set this prompt up with a “fast” AI model like GPT-5.5 Instant, consider using a more sophisticated model like GPT-5.6 Sol or Claude Opus 5 for the initial setup. That way, you can benefit from the stronger model’s “passport” output across multiple AI chats.