OpenAI ChatGPT goes Goblin Mode

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:04]Hi, I'm David Gerard and this is Pivot toAI coming to you daily. Today, OpenAI has a problem with goblins. Yeah, goblins. Openai released its latest chat model, GPT 5.5, in April. Users noticed immediately it had a thing where it would start talking about goblins a lot.

[00:00:28]specifically goblins. One open claw user was using GPD 5.5 and their open claw would say things like quote helpful minion in a power suit was taken. So I evolved into goblin mode with calendar access.

[00:00:46]Trademark dispute with three raccoons in a trench coat. Legal said pivot to goblin. Unquote.

[00:00:53]Another user asked Chad GPT about camera lenses. It offered him quote filthy neon sparkle goblin mode unquote.

[00:01:07]Open AAI even put specific instructions into the system prompt for codeex their AI coding bot.

[00:01:16]quote, "Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user's query."

[00:01:33]In fact, open eye put in never talk about goblins twice. It's the usual thing in system prompts like we saw with the leaked clawed code source.

[00:01:44]Desperately begging the robot, "Please, please don't screw up this time." The anti-goblin line was not in the instructions for previous models. So, how did GPT 5.5 hit this particular screw-up?

[00:02:02]Open AI says it's the training to project a personality.

[00:02:07]Chat GPT relies heavily on coming across as a person you're talking to. This sucks you in and you spend more time with your friend, the chatbot. Here's another part of the new codec system prompt.

[00:02:23]Quote, "When the user talks with you, they should feel they are meeting another subjectivity, not a mirror."

[00:02:32]Try as hard as you can to pretend you're a person. the odd spot of AI psychosis or the bot talking people into killing themselves or killing others. That's just an unfortunate side effect. Mild AI psychosis, that's just marketing.

[00:02:51]Open AI posted an explanation or a sort of explanation. The goblins started showing up in GPT 5.1.

[00:03:00]Open eye blames post training where you take an existing AI model and you try to tweak the model's outputs.

[00:03:09]Quote, training the model for the personality customization feature, in particular the nerdy personality. We unknowingly gave particularly high rewards for metaphors with creatures.

[00:03:24]The uh nerdy personality was retired, but the goblins leaked through to the rest of the GPT 5.5 model. It's full of goblins.

[00:03:36]This goblin stuff looks very like visible signs of model collapse where you see some weird bit of data over represented more and more. OpenAI doesn't use the words model collapse in the explanation post, but model collapse comes from training a model on previous models output. And that's precisely how OpenAI would get the effect they're describing.

[00:04:06]OpenAI trained GPT3 on literally the whole internet.

[00:04:11]Everything since then is going to include added slop.

[00:04:17]Open AAI doesn't have any way to make their models actually reliable. All they've got is post training, yelling in the system prompt, and special workarounds that can count the Rs in Strawberry, but not in Blueberry. The only trick Sam Alman's got left is saying this is fine and trying to lean into the goblin memes on Twitter.

[00:04:45]Thanks for tuning in to Pivot to AI.

[00:04:47]Please do forward this episode to the goblin lover in your life. Also, the goblin hater. Spread the word. Hit like and subscribe on YouTube. Leave a nice review in your podcast app. And if pivot to brightens your day, you can keep us going by dropping just $5 into the Patreon linked in the show notes. Thank you all. I'll see you tomorrow. And bye for now.