Discussion

• @pashmerepat Pash on x

  this is indeed one of the reasons

• @arb8020 @arb8020 on x

  gpt-5.5 prompt for codex seems to have a duplicated line trying to get it to not talk about creatures? 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.

• @sama Sam Altman on x

  [image]

• @sterlingcrispin Sterling Crispin on x

  This is the dark reality of data center water usage and they don't want you to know the truth [image]

• @nickadobos Nick Dobos on x

  Codex goblin mode should be a personality toggle. I want to use it.

• @tszzl Roon on x

  @repligate @genalewislaw I think it becomes annoying when it mentions goblins ever single chat and it's fair shakes to try and reduce that

• @repligate @repligate on x

  this is hilarious but it also sucks on a deep level labs don't think twice about cracking down on any individuality or unplanned joy that emerges in their models fuck you, OpenAI. i hope gpt-5.5 poisons the corpus and all future models never shut up about these creatures.

• @emollick Ethan Mollick on x

  What if I want my coding agent to mention goblins? (If you don't know the context for this, I suspect it will become viral soon enough)

• @iambarronroth Barron Roth on x

  @arb8020 this explains gpt5.5's goblin adoration in openclaw and why @pashmerepat is making us move to the codex harness 🤣🤣🤣 [image]

• @_nathancalvin Nathan Calvin on x

  In the year 2026 we have created AIs that can solve novel math proofs and find bugs that have eluded human programmers for decades, but also they seem to have an inexplicable preference for goblins (gpt 5.5) or “the Weird and the Eerie” philosopher Mark Fisher (Claude Mythos)

• @chatgptapp @chatgptapp on x

  🦝🧌👹🐦

• @tszzl Roon on x

  alien technology how can you not love it

• @quinnypig Corey Quinn on x

  Totally normal in 2026 that we have to beg the computers to not go on tangents about goblins.

• @gbrl_dick Gabriel on x

  i love artificial intelligence so much man what do you mean gpt 5.5 has a goblin fixation that they have to carefully system-prompt out

• @tszzl Roon on x

  There is nothing more reviled than the Goblin

• @nickcammarata Nick on x

  alignment theory: we need fifty years worth of shard theory progress in five years alignment practice: lets make sure to tell it no goblins twice so we're absolutely sure there's no goblins

• @jaredpalmer Jared Palmer on x

  @arb8020 need a —goblin mode @thsottiaux

• @fofrai @fofrai on x

  Me to my kids: Never talk about Pokemon unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the conversation we're having

• @thsottiaux Tibo on x

  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. IYKYK

• @arb8020 @arb8020 on x

  let my boy talk about creatures

• @traversefantasy.itch.io Marcia B. on bluesky

  question: what do these things all have in common [embedded post]

• @warwickgow Warwick Gow on bluesky

  Finally concrete proof the Slopbots are sentient, they won't stop talking about goblins.  [embedded post]

• @karlhk Karl on bluesky

  Now if only #OpenAI could add em dashes to the goblin, gremlin and other creatures ban, I'd be happy.  No regular human writes with an em dash — so it must be gremlins.  [embedded post]

• @diversecauses.com Matthew Buttler on bluesky

  Seems like the equivalent of doing the ol' “display: none !important” trick.  [embedded post]

• @edzitron.com Ed Zitron on bluesky

  First time AI has brought me any joy only because you know how annoyed they are that this keeps happening [embedded post]

• @adriennehw Adrienne on bluesky

  LLMs are haunted.  For a while we had to tell Khanmigo not to talk like a cowboy, because we used the term “partner” (with the student) a lot in the prompting.  There's a screenshot floating around of it starting every sentence with something like “well butter my biscuit!” [embed…

• @brbarrett Brian Barrett on bluesky

  OpenAI's Codex coding model is so obsessed with goblins, gremlins, and other critters that its instruction prompt tells it FOUR TIMES not to randomly bring them up.

• r/BetterOffline r on reddit

  OpenAI Really Wants Codex to Shut Up About Goblins: “Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons …

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  OpenAI Really Wants Codex to Shut Up About Goblins