How to Prompt ChatGPT-5

ChatGPT-5 isn't just a newer version of GPT. It has three major changes that affect how you should write prompts:

1. Intelligent Routing ChatGPT-5 automatically decides whether to use:

2. Better Instruction Following It follows directions more precisely, but this means vague prompts get worse results than before.

3. Built-in Reasoning You don't need to say "think step by step" for most tasks, it does this automatically when needed.

Most prompting problems come from being too vague. RICE fixes this:

Role - Who should ChatGPT-5 act as?
​Instructions - What exactly do you want?
​Context - What background info is essential?
​Examples - What should the output look like?

Here's the thing nobody talks about: Context is the most important part of RICE - and the most tedious to write every single time.

Think about what ChatGPT-5 needs to know to give you great results:

The Problem: Writing this context repeatedly is exhausting. Most people either skip it (and get generic results) or copy-paste the same paragraph 50 times.

The Solution: Prompt Genie's new context feature. You create your context once - describing your business, audience, brand voice, and key details - then reuse it with every prompt. One setup, unlimited high-quality outputs.

Set your context once. Get perfect prompts every time, no more endless retyping!

Instead of retyping "We're a B2B SaaS company targeting marketing managers at 50-500 person companies with a professional but approachable tone..." for the 47th time, you just reference your saved context and focus on the specific task.

👉 Create your own context genies!

🟢 Result: The RICE version gives you something you can actually use vs. generic content that needs heavy editing.

For complex, multi-part requests, use XML tags to organize your prompt:

You’re not being extra — you’re being exact.

1. Prompt Bloat: Don't add unnecessary details thinking more = better. Start simple, add constraints only when output quality demands it.

2. Fighting the System: Don't try to manually control ChatGPT-5's internal routing. Use clear complexity signals instead:

3. Old Chain-of-Thought Habits Skip "think step by step" unless you specifically need to see the reasoning process.

Just update the variables in the backend and your GPT adapts instantly.

Placement Matters: We saw some users on Reddit and X reporting on how they find that attention weights these positions more heavily. → Put your most important instruction at the beginning AND end of your prompt.

Signal Complexity: Use "quick answer" for simple tasks and "analyze thoroughly" for complex ones to optimize ChatGPT-5's routing.

Context Sandwich: Structure long prompts as: critical info → supporting details → format requirements.

Super Prompts are a Standard: Simple prompts leave 80% of ChatGPT-5's potential on the table. Don't be afraid of detailed, structured prompts - they're now the norm for getting quality results.

Remember: ChatGPT-5 is designed to be more like a skilled colleague than a basic assistant. Brief it clearly, and it will deliver professional-quality work.

The clearer and more structured your prompts are, the more reliably your it performs.

Would you onboard a teammate by handing them a single paragraph and saying “figure it out”?

Exactly.