ChatGPT has a functionality where users can provide custom instructions that it will take into account in each conversation, which allows it to provide more tailored responses to their prompts. Here, you can fill in information about you: for example, what you do as for work/study, and what your hobbies and interests are (do be careful with which information you provide).  

For example, if you use ChatGPT to generate recipes but do not eat meat, an instruction like this could be useful:  

Additionally, you can provide information about how you want ChatGPT to respond. This could include output length and tone.

To make sure your input isn’t used for training, go to your profile > Settings > Data controls, and turn “Improve the model for everyone” off.

ChatGPT has the functionality to share links to chats, allowing others to read your conversations. Do note that this is not a permanent form of documentation: if the original chat is deleted, the link will not work anymore. To share links to chats, click the top right “Share chat” button, and create and copy your link.

Alternatively, you can use browser extensions to export your ChatGPT chat to a pdf-document, which provide a more permanent form of documentation (which is more in line with the WUR guidelines). One example is "Save ChatGPT to PDF", which easily converts your chats to a PDF document. (Click here for Chrome download, click here for Firefox, click here for Edge). To use the extension, download the extension, and make sure it is turned on. Then, open ChatGPT to export your chat to a PDF document.

Since Spring 2024 free users of ChatGPT have also received access to GPTs. These are customized chatbots that have been developed by paid users or associated businesses. Each GPT has its own customized set of instructions on how to behave towards its user and can contain a set of supplemental documents to expand its training data with highly specialized information. They can also be linked to external sources such as web interfaces, databases, or proprietary features through API connections, greatly expanding the functionality of the GPT. You can browse through GPTs through the ‘GPT Store’ and open a chat with any of these customized bots. A link to a GPT may also be shared with you, for example one designed by your colleagues, for use during a course. If you do have access to a Plus account, the guide linked below may be of use to you to design your own custom chatbot.

Data files, such as *.csv, *.pdf, or *.xlsx files, can also be submitted to ChatGPT. Using the Python programming language these data files can then be analysed by ChatGPT and the information used to answer your question. The quality of the response does depend on the formulation of your prompt, as well as the clarity and formatting of the data file submitted. The Python script is used internally by ChatGPT to analyse these files. The added benefit of this method is that Python script written by ChatGPT can also be used within the ChatGPT environment and be tested for basic bugs or coding errors. Hence the quality of ChatGPT for coding tasks is also greater with the use of the Code Interpreter. Recommended is to copy the code used for either data analysis or coding tasks, to ensure a clear record exists of the code used by ChatGPT. This way you can always adjust the code if it needs to be adapted to a new situation or verify the functionality of the code before applying it more broadly.