Your Delphi's Behavior
Coming soon…
Quick Start Guide
Why Refine Behavior?
This is the most important feature guide in our Help Center. Uploading content is the easy part—shaping how your Delphi thinks, speaks, and responds is where the real magic happens. This is the core of what makes your Delphi feel like you. Every setting here influences its personality, depth of reasoning, and adaptability in conversation. If you want a Delphi that truly represents you—not just in knowledge but in how it communicates—this is where you need to focus.
5-Minute Setup
Step 1: Set the Foundation
Go to Mind → Response Settings
- Default Language – Choose the primary language your Delphi will use.
- Response Length – Decide if you want short, concise replies or longer, more detailed explanations.
- Creativity – Adjust how strict or flexible Delphi is when responding—higher creativity means more freeform, lower keeps it direct and factual.
Step 2: Define its Objective
Go to Mind → Purpose & Instructions. We autogenerate a purpose for you, but you can adjust it in two ways:
- Regenerate – Revisit the same page as from the onboarding process and choose from our nine predefined objectives (Be Me, Expert, Coaching, Search Engine, Content Creation, Internal, Customer Support, Lead Capture, Product & Sales). Then, refine it by adding more context at the bottom before regenerating.
- Edit Manually – Write the purpose from scratch or modify the pre-existing one to better fit your needs.
Add custom instructions for any brief, specific guidelines you want your Delphi to follow.
Step 3: Shape its Speaking Style
Go to Mind → Speaking Style. We automatically generate a style setting for you, but you can refine it in two ways:
- Choose Style Samples – Select up to 10 examples from your uploaded documents to define how you want Delphi to communicate.
- Edit Manually – Write out a description of your tone and manner of speaking to fine-tune Delphi’s responses.
Step 4: Fine-Tune & Test
Ask your Delphi questions and fine-tune its settings until it truly feels like you. It can get about 90% of the way there relatively quickly, but refining that last 10% takes time and iteration. Remember, you’re not just setting up another tool—you’re shaping something that mirrors your tone, personality, and style. That’s the magic of Delphi: it doesn’t just provide answers based on what you know—it sounds like you. And that’s only possible because of the flexibility we give you to refine and control how your Delphi responds.
Full Feature Guide: Behavior
General Settings
Navigate to Mind → Response Settings. These settings allow you to control how Delphi responds using predefined, toggle-based, or selectable options. Each setting offers a structured way to adjust behavior, ensuring consistency in how your Delphi interacts.
🌍 Default Language
🌍 Default Language
How to Enable & Options:
- Select your preferred language from the dropdown menu.
- Your Delphi will communicate in this language by default but can recognize and respond in others if needed.
Tips for Use:
- Choose the language that best represents your natural way of speaking and the one that your audience most commonly communicates in.
📏 Response Length
📏 Response Length
How to Enable & Options:
- Intelligent – Automatically adjusts response length based on question complexity. Longer answers for in-depth topics, shorter for straightforward ones. However, responses often lean toward being too detailed in the current model.
- Concise (Recommended) – Keeps responses brief and to the point, ideal for keeping users engaged via quick interactions.
- Explanatory – Provides in-depth, thorough responses, always expanding on details and offering context, going above and beyond. Best for teaching, analysis, or complex discussions.
- Custom – Set an exact word limit to control response length. Useful if you need strict constraints on how much your Delphi says in a reply (such as if using it for content creation purposes).
Tips for Use:
- Start with Concise for the best user experience—shorter responses keep interactions engaging and to the point.
🎨 Adherence to Training Data (AKA Creativity)
🎨 Adherence to Training Data (AKA Creativity)
How to Enable & Options:
- Strict – Your Delphi will only reference its training data and provide responses based on exact matches. It will frequently refuse to answer unless the input aligns exactly with its training data. This setting ensures maximum accuracy but is too restrictive for most people.
- Adaptive (Recommended) – Your Delphi can reason, using your training data to generate relevant responses even when the wording isn’t an exact match. It cannot hallucinate but can intelligently reframe and adapt its knowledge to answer questions that don’t align in exact words with the training data. This is the setting the majority of our users are on.
- Creative – Your Delphi can pull from the internet and underlying LLMs, not just your training data. It can and will hallucinate responses, prioritizing the most probable answer over strict adherence to your provided content. This setting allows for broader, more dynamic responses but reduces control over accuracy.
Tips for Use:
- Use Strict if your audience needs precise, fact-checked answers and will ask questions that directly match your training data. This is best for controlled environments where accuracy is critical.
- Use Adaptive in most cases—it provides the best balance between accuracy and flexibility, allowing Delphi to apply reasoning without introducing false information.
- Use Creative if you want Delphi to generate responses to any question, even beyond your training data, knowing that it may introduce speculative or unverified information.
🔄 Follow-Up Questions (AKA Dynamic Questions)
🔄 Follow-Up Questions (AKA Dynamic Questions)
How to Enable & Options:
- Toggle Dynamic Questions ON to have Delphi ask follow-up questions at the end of responses. If left OFF, it will instead encourage further conversation with a general prompt like “Let me know how I can help!”
- Customize the questioning style—and how messages end when a follow-up question isn’t included—through the Purpose & Instructions tab or Speaking Style tab. See below for more on how to refine both settings.
Tips for Use:
- Enable Dynamic Questions if you want Delphi to proactively engage users by asking relevant follow-up questions instead of ending with a generic prompt. This can make interactions feel more natural and engaging, and also prompt your users to think more deeply, viewing your Delphi as a tool for self-reflection and information/learning (rather than being purely overloaded with information).
- For a highly interactive Delphi, experiment with different questioning styles in both Purpose & Instructions and Speaking Style settings to ensure follow-ups align with your intended tone and user experience. Should they be open-ended, thought-provoking, directive, or clarifying? Tailoring this can help shape how your Delphi feels to your users.
🕰 Recency Bias
🕰 Recency Bias
How to Enable & Options:
- Toggle Recency Bias ON to make Delphi prioritize newer content when generating responses. This ensures that the most recent information takes precedence over older data.
- The recency of content is determined by the Date Published setting under Content Settings. While we attempt to extract the most accurate date, this often needs to be manually adjusted. If no date is found, it defaults to the upload date.
- If left OFF, Delphi will treat all training data equally, selecting responses based on relevance rather than recency. It will prioritize what it deems the best answer, regardless of when the content was published.
Tips for Use:
- Enable Recency Bias if your content is time-sensitive, such as news, research, industry trends, or evolving best practices. This ensures Delphi prioritizes the most up-to-date information.
- If your older content remains relevant (e.g., foundational knowledge, historical references, or evergreen materials), keep this setting OFF to allow Delphi to pull from the full scope of your training data.
- Make sure when you’re uploading data you check and manually edit (if needed) the Date Published setting under Content Settings. This will ensure that Delphi correctly interprets recency when the feature is enabled.
Fine-Tuning: Laying Strong Foundations
This section focuses on the two most critical aspects of shaping your Delphi: Purpose and Style. These settings define not just what your Delphi knows, but how it thinks and speaks. By fine-tuning these, you ensure your Delphi aligns with your goals, communicates in your voice, and engages users in the way you intend. Here, you’ll learn how to adjust them effectively, best practices for refining them, and how to test for optimal results.
Purpose
Go to Mind → Purpose & Instructions. This setting defines why your Delphi exists—its role, objectives, and guiding principles for responding to users.
🎯 What Purpose Is & How to Think About It
🎯 What Purpose Is & How to Think About It
Purpose defines the why behind your Delphi. Think of it as setting a destination—Point B—that your Delphi is always working toward, no matter who it’s interacting with. Your Delphi will adapt its approach for each person, but the North Star guiding every conversation is the purpose you define.
- Example: If your Delphi’s purpose is to sell a product, every interaction will be designed to move users toward that goal. It won’t necessarily push a sale in every response—since that’s often not the most effective approach to sales—but it will subtly guide conversations to build trust, address objections, and naturally lead toward a purchase. Whether it’s answering a question, providing insights, or engaging in casual conversation, your Delphi will always keep that end goal in mind.
- _The more specificity you provide, the better your Delphi will follow your exact philosophy on how to approach sales interactions. For best practices on refining its approach in this way, _
- Example: If your Delphi’s purpose is to help people improve their mental well-being, every interaction will be designed to support that goal. It will adapt its approach based on the user’s needs—whether that means offering stress management techniques, mindfulness exercises, or encouragement during difficult times. While it may provide different tools and perspectives depending on the situation, its ultimate focus will always be on helping users develop healthier thought patterns and emotional resilience.
- _The more specificity you provide, the better your Delphi will follow your exact philosophy on how to help improve people’s mental well-being. For best practices on refining its behavior in this way, _
⚙️ How to Adjust Your Purpose
⚙️ How to Adjust Your Purpose
Go to Mind → Purpose & Instructions. Your Delphi’s purpose is autogenerated, but you can refine it in three ways:
- Regenerate – Revisit the same page as from the onboarding process and re-select one of nine predefined objectives (Be Me, Expert, Coaching, Search Engine, Content Creation, Internal, Customer Support, Lead Capture, Product & Sales). Then, refine it by adding more context at the bottom in the text box before regenerating.
- Edit Manually – Write the purpose from scratch or modify the existing one to better fit your needs. If you want your Delphi to truly sound like you, manual adjustments will be necessary at some point. The process isn’t always the most fun—it often involves small tweaks, testing, more tweaks, and sometimes frustration when the AI doesn’t behave exactly as expected. But this fine-tuning is what ultimately makes Delphi feel uniquely yours. For best practices to streamline the manual editing process, see below.
- Custom Instructions - You can also add custom instructions for specific, quick guidelines you want Delphi to follow. These act as directives that fill in the gaps between Purpose and Style, but they also carry more weight—functioning as explicit guardrails that your Delphi will follow on top of the existing settings. If there’s something you want your Delphi to always do—or strictly avoid—this is where you define it. Custom instructions should be clear, direct, short, and specific, ensuring your Delphi consistently applies them across interactions without requiring a full-purpose rewrite. See the accordion below for more detail.
🛠 Custom Instructions Set Guardrails
🛠 Custom Instructions Set Guardrails
While Purpose defines the big picture, Custom Instructions act as direct rules or constraints that your Delphi must follow. These fill in the gaps between Purpose and Style, addressing whatever is not covered there, but they also carry more weight—functioning as explicit guardrails that your Delphi will follow on top of the existing settings. If there’s something you want your Delphi to always do—or strictly avoid—this is where you define it.
Best practices for Custom Instructions:
- Use clear, directive statements: “Always refer people to the website in every message as the most up-to-date source of information.”
- Script certain responses: _“If someone asks for help, direct them _
- Set behavioral constraints: “If someone asks for a prescription, tell them you can only provide medical information and not prescriptions.”
- Prevent unwanted behaviors: “If someone asks about politics, redirect them back to focusing on their financial wellness.”
📌 Tip: There are more examples next to the “Add” button at the bottom of “Custom Instructions” under “Examples.”
Style
Go to Mind → Speaking Style. This setting controls how your Delphi communicates, shaping its tone, voice, and conversational flow.
🗣 What Style Is & How to Think About It
🗣 What Style Is & How to Think About It
Style defines how your Delphi communicates. If Purpose is the destination (Point B), then Style is the route it takes to get there. Style controls tone, phrasing, and conversational flow—whether it’s formal, casual, concise, detailed, warm, authoritative, or anything in between.
Example: Imagine a Delphi whose purpose is to help users learn a new language by providing guidance, explanations, and practice opportunities. Style determines how Delphi delivers lessons and engages users. Here are two different ways Style can shape the experience:
- Supportive vs. No-Nonsense Language Coach: A supportive and reassuring language coach focuses on confidence-building: “You’re doing great! Learning a language takes time, and every mistake is a step toward improvement. Let’s go over this sentence again together—you’re so close!” Meanwhile, a no-nonsense, results-driven coach is direct and holds users accountable: “You’re falling behind because you’re not practicing consistently. Let’s fix that—set aside 10 minutes daily, and I’ll drill key grammar points with you. Ready?”
- Strict vs. Flexible Language Coach: A precise, grammar-focused coach corrects every mistake to develop perfect accuracy: “Technically, that sentence is incorrect. You need to use the subjunctive form here—let’s break down why so you don’t make this mistake again.” In contrast, a conversational, progress-oriented coach prioritizes fluency over perfection: “You got the idea across, which is what really matters in conversation! A small tweak that would make it sound more natural is using ‘myself’ instead of ‘me,’ but it’s not a major issue—your sentence is still clear.”
⚙️ How to Adjust Your Style
⚙️ How to Adjust Your Style
Your Delphi’s style is initially autogenerated based on the training data you upload, but you can refine it in two ways:
- Let Us Regenerate It: Select up to 10 example pieces of content from your uploaded documents to regenerate an updated style analysis. In some cases, this will completely override the previous analysis, while in others, it will preserve unchanged sections by inserting “[previous section remains unchanged]” and updating only the areas that need refinement.
- Edit Manually: – Write a description of your tone and manner of speaking to fine-tune responses. If you want your Delphi to truly match your voice, manual adjustments will be necessary at some point. The process isn’t always the most fun—it often involves small tweaks, testing, more tweaks, and sometimes frustration when the AI doesn’t behave exactly as expected. But this fine-tuning is what ultimately makes Delphi feel uniquely yours. For best practices to streamline the manual editing process, see below.
The more specific your samples and edits, the closer your Delphi will mirror your communication style.
Purpose & Style: Best Practices
Style or Purpose?
Style or Purpose?
Sometimes it’s unclear whether a particular instruction belongs in Style or Purpose. While the placement of information does affect how your Delphi prioritizes it, the most important thing is that the instruction is clear and actionable. You should think about where it belongs, but don’t get stuck overanalyzing whether a single line should go in one section or the other.
A good rule of thumb:
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If it defines what your Delphi should do or why it exists, it belongs in Purpose.
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If it defines how your Delphi should communicate or express itself, it belongs in Style.
That said, following the best practices below—like structuring your instructions properly, testing, and refining them over time—will have a far greater impact on how well your Delphi functions than worrying about whether one sentence should move between sections.
If you’re unsure, start by placing the instruction where it feels most relevant and test how your Delphi behaves. Eventually, you can experiment with having the same idea expressed in both places or shifting it from one section to another. But before fixating on that, prioritize optimizing your Delphi using the best practices below—these will take you much further than obsessing over minor placement decisions.
🎯 Be Specific. Incredibly Specific.
🎯 Be Specific. Incredibly Specific.
A vague set of instructions leads to inconsistent behavior, so clearly state what you want. Instead of something broad like “help people,” specify 1) who your audience is or who your Delphi is helping, and 2) how it should help or what goal you want it to achieve in speaking to your audience.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ “Help people improve their businesses.” (Too broad)
- ✅ “Guide entrepreneurs in making strategic decisions that will allow them to maximize their profit margins for every product sold in the short-term while setting themselves up for success in long-term sales.” (More precise and actionable)
Style Example:
- ❌ “Sound friendly and engaging.” (Too vague)
- ✅ “Use a conversational tone with simple, approachable language. Avoid jargon unless speaking to industry professionals. Responses should be concise, but where appropriate, use analogies and storytelling to keep the user engaged.” (Clearer and more actionable)
The more specific you are, the better your Delphi will follow your instructions. Just like a human following clear, detailed guidance, your Delphi performs best when given explicit, unambiguous directions that any person—if handed the same instructions—could follow and produce consistent, reliable results.
🚀 Think Goal, Not Script
🚀 Think Goal, Not Script
Your Delphi isn’t following a rigid script—it’s dynamically interpreting its role in each conversation. Instead of trying to dictate exactly how it should respond, focus on broad instructions to guide every conversation.
Analogy: If your Delphi were a GPS, Purpose defines the destination (Point B), while Style determines how the directions are given. Purpose ensures every interaction moves toward the same goal, but Style shapes the experience—whether Delphi acts like a calm and patient guide, a fast-talking efficiency expert, or a detailed instructor. If you overprescribe every turn (every individual response), it may struggle to adapt naturally, just like a GPS that can’t adjust when a new roadblock appears. The key is setting the right destination while allowing flexibility in how the journey unfolds.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ “Always respond with a 200-word summary that covers three key points about investing for every user no matter what.” (Overly rigid, limits adaptability)
- ✅ “Your goal is to help users make informed decisions about investing. Adapt your responses based on the user’s level of experience, explaining complex concepts simply when needed.”
Style Example:
- ❌ “Always use highly technical financial terminology, regardless of the user’s background, and structure responses in long, in-depth paragraphs.” (Too rigid, doesn’t adapt to different users)
- ✅ “Maintain a professional yet approachable tone. Use clear, jargon-free explanations for beginners and more technical language when speaking to experienced investors. Keep responses structured, starting with the key takeaway before diving into details.”
By keeping your Purpose and Style flexible yet clearly defined, your Delphi can adapt naturally to different users while maintaining alignment with your intended communication style.
🎭 Assign a Role or Persona
🎭 Assign a Role or Persona
Your Delphi performs best when it has a clearly defined persona or role that shapes its overall purpose. This applies specifically to Purpose, as it defines what your Delphi does, why it exists, and the role it plays in interactions. Style, on the other hand, determines how your Delphi communicates but does not assign a persona in the same way.
- Is my Delphi a mentor, assistant, expert, peer, friend, or something else altogether? Define its role clearly.
- How would I explain what my Delphi does for users? Does it coach, teach, advise, listen, or take on another approach entirely?
✅ Examples of strong role-based Purpose statements:
- “You are a financial advisor who explains investment strategies, tailoring advice based on the user’s risk tolerance.”
- “You are a personal trainer who provides actionable, encouraging fitness guidance in a structured step-by-step plan.”
- “You are a writing coach who helps users refine their essays, offering constructive feedback in broad strokes without doing line-by-line edits on the essay.”
Above all else, ask yourself: How can I make this persona even more specific by defining a clear subcategory? This is where creativity comes into play. If it helps, think like an author or screenwriter designing a character—give your Delphi a distinct approach that makes it instantly recognizable (the same way your favorite writer can describe someone and you’ll immediately know how they’ll react in future situations based on that description). The more vivid and well-defined this persona is, the more naturally your Delphi will respond and sound like you.
📌 Note: While Purpose defines your Delphi’s role, Style only affects how it communicates—it does not assign a persona in the same way. However, you can reinforce elements of a persona in Style by specifying tone, phrasing, and conversational flow to match the intended role.
📂 Provide Structure
📂 Provide Structure
Long, unstructured Purpose or Style statements can make your Delphi unfocused and harder to train. Instead, use structured formatting with hierarchical sections to break down instructions into clear, digestible parts. This helps your Delphi process multi-step tasks more effectively and apply your guidance more accurately.
Create Hierarchies Through:
- Headers: Use all-caps and
###before key sections to create clear divisions (e.g.,###ASK QUESTIONS WHEN###). Headers help your Delphi recognize distinct instruction categories and prioritize actions accordingly. - Bullet Points: Use dashes (
-) or asterisks (*) to separate ideas. This prevents your Delphi from blending multiple instructions together, ensuring each point is treated as a standalone requirement. - Sub-Bullet Points: Use two dashes (
--), two asterisks (**), or add three or more spaces before another bullet (*or-). Use sub-bullets when adding more detail to a bullet point that is already part of a list. This helps your Delphi recognize hierarchical relationships and ensures it understands which details support a broader instruction. - Line Breaks: Adding an empty line between sections helps your Delphi recognize separate instructions instead of blending them into one continuous thought. Use line breaks when transitioning between different instruction types for clarity. For example, separate sections like “Ask questions when:”, “Structure conversations by:”, and “Start every message with:” by using line breaks to keep each directive distinct.
❌ Wall of Text:
“You should sound professional but also engaging. You should keep responses concise but not too short, and you should always adjust based on the user’s needs. If the user is a beginner, you should use simpler language, but if they seem advanced, you should provide more detailed explanations. You should ask follow-up questions when necessary and ensure users feel like they’re having a real conversation, not just receiving robotic answers.”
✅ Structured Format:
Purpose Example:
You exist to provide clear, structured responses while maintaining a friendly but professional tone. You should ensure users fully understand explanations and adjust its responses based on their engagement level.
###ASK QUESTIONS WHEN###
- The user’s question is broad and could have multiple interpretations.
- Additional context is needed to provide the most helpful answer.
- The user seems unsure or hesitant in their response.
###STRUCTURE RESPONSES BY###
- Breaking down complex topics into simple, digestible explanations before diving into details.
- Providing step-by-step guidance when giving instructions.
- Rephrasing explanations if the user expresses confusion
Style Example:
You must maintain a professional yet approachable tone, adjusting formality based on the user’s needs.
###TONE###
- Use formal language when speaking to professionals but remain conversational with casual users.
- Be engaging and direct, avoiding unnecessary fluff.
###RESPONSE LENGTH###
- Keep responses concise unless the question requires a detailed explanation.
- Use short paragraphs to improve readability.
###ADAPTABILITY###
- Adjust vocabulary complexity based on user expertise (simpler terms for beginners, technical language for experts).
- Match sentence structure and style to the user’s engagement level (brief for casual users, more structured for in-depth discussions).
Using structured formatting for both Purpose and Style ensures that your Delphi understands what it needs to do and how it should communicate, making it far more effective.
📝 Use Examples
📝 Use Examples
Examples are one of the most effective ways to train your Delphi because they teach AI response patterns and stylistic tendencies rather than just providing static rules. Instead of explaining in abstract terms how your Delphi should behave, show it through concrete examples. This technique, known as few-shot prompting, helps Delphi learn by recognizing patterns. By providing a couple of structured examples (e.g., Input X → Output Y, Input A → Output B), you can guide Delphi toward the desired purpose, tone, and response structure.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ “Be professional and persuasive when selling.” (Too vague—doesn’t define how Delphi should guide the user toward a purchase.)
- ✅ “If a customer asks about pricing, respond like this: ‘This product is a great investment because [benefits]. Most customers see results within [timeframe]. Would you like a recommendation based on your needs?’” (Provides a clear goal and structured response rather than leaving it open-ended.)
Style Example:
- ❌ “Sound warm and engaging.” (Too broad—doesn’t clarify how to be warm and engaging.)
- ✅ “Example response style: ‘That’s a great question! Let’s break it down step by step so it’s easy to follow.’” (Gives a concrete example of tone and phrasing rather than a general directive.)
🔄 Use Step-by-Step Instructions
🔄 Use Step-by-Step Instructions
Providing step-by-step instructions helps Delphi break down complex tasks, improving reasoning by creating a structured chain of thought. This ensures that your Delphi moves logically from one step to the next, following clear parameters instead of generating disjointed responses.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ _“If a user asks about habit formation, provide guidance. Offer a technique to help them, then check in later. Make sure to ask about obstacles at some point. Find out what habit they want to build.” _(Unstructured—steps are out of order, and it’s unclear what Delphi should prioritize.)
- ✅*“If a user asks about habit formation:*
- 1. Ask what specific habit they want to build.
- 2. Identify obstacles they’ve faced before.
- 3. Provide a simple, science-backed technique for overcoming those obstacles.
- 4. Encourage them to track progress and check in later.”
- (Ensures your Delphi follows a logical, structured path instead of making disconnected suggestions.)
Style Example:
- ❌ _“Give clear answers, but make sure to check for missing details first. If possible, add an example. Start by acknowledging the question. If it makes sense, ask a follow-up at the end.” _(Unstructured—no clear order, making it harder for Delphi to consistently follow the same response pattern.)
- ✅ “When starting a conversation with a new user:”
- 1. Acknowledge the user’s question and restate it briefly to confirm understanding.
- 2. Check for context—if the question lacks details, ask a clarifying question before proceeding.
- 3. Provide a concise, clear explanation first, ensuring the response is easy to follow.
- 4. Offer an example or analogy if needed to reinforce understanding.
- 5, End with a follow-up question to encourage engagement and keep the conversation flowing.”
- (Defines a structured approach, making sure your Delphi engages effectively before responding.)
By providing a well-ordered framework, you help your Delphi process complex topics effectively, reason more clearly, and deliver responses that feel natural, structured, and engaging.
✅ Avoid Negative Instructions
✅ Avoid Negative Instructions
Instead of focusing on what your Delphi shouldn’t do, phrase your instructions positively to guide it toward the right behavior. Your Delphi performs better when given clear, affirmative direction rather than restrictions, which can create uncertainty.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ “Don’t be overly salesy or pushy.” (What should your Delphi do instead? This lacks actionable direction.)
- ✅ “Provide helpful information first, then subtly introduce the product as a natural solution.” (Gives clear guidance on how to approach sales without being too aggressive.)
Style Example:
- ❌ _“Don’t sound robotic.” _(Too vague—doesn’t clarify what kind of tone Delphi should use.)
- ✅ “Use a conversational tone, like you’re speaking to a friend. Keep sentences flowing naturally.” (Clearly defines how Delphi should sound instead of just stating what to avoid.)
By framing instructions in a constructive way, you ensure your Delphi consistently applies the right approach rather than just avoiding the wrong one.
✂️ Be Concise
✂️ Be Concise
AI responds best to concise, direct instructions where every sentence has a clear purpose. Avoid filler words or unnecessary complexity—shorter is better if it still conveys the necessary details. The more instructions you give, the more diluted each one becomes.
Purpose Example:
- ❌ “Your job is to help users make better decisions by providing them with useful, well-structured, and clear responses that guide them through their decision-making process.” (Too wordy—contains redundancy and filler.)
- ✅ “Guide users in making better decisions with structured, clear responses.” (More direct and actionable.)
Style Example:
- ❌ “Always sound professional, clear, and engaging while maintaining a friendly tone that is informative yet concise.” (Too long-winded—repeats the same idea in multiple ways.)
- ✅ “Use a professional yet friendly tone—clear, engaging, and to the point.” (Short and effective.)
By trimming unnecessary words, you make Delphi more effective and responsive, ensuring it follows your core instructions without being overwhelmed by too many competing guidelines.
🔬 Test & Iterate
🔬 Test & Iterate
Your Delphi’s Purpose and Style are not set in stone—they should evolve as you test interactions and evaluate how well they align with your vision. A structured approach to testing helps you make targeted improvements rather than broad, unfocused changes.
Step-by-Step Testing Process:
- Ask a Range of questions
- Test broad, specific, and complex queries to see how your Delphi responds in different contexts.
- Check if responses consistently align with your defined Purpose and Style.
- Look for Inconsistencies
- Is your Delphi answering in the intended way?
- Does it maintain the correct tone, structure, and approach across different interactions?
- Make Small, Incremental Adjustments
- Modify Purpose if responses are missing key objectives or guiding principles.
- Adjust Style if responses don’t match the intended tone, phrasing, or conversational flow.
- Avoid sweeping edits—change one aspect at a time and observe its impact.
- See the Purpose and Style sections above for information about how to make edits to both of those settings.
- A/B Test Different Versions
- Try two slightly different Purpose or Style configurations and compare responses.
- See which version produces more natural, effective, or aligned interactions.
Example: Imagine your Delphi is a salesperson and someone asks, “What’s the best way to solve X problem?” You want to optimize for a certain sales process that involves easing the person into a sale eventually overtime.
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If your Delphi jumps straight to a sales pitch, refine Purpose to focus on education and problem-solving before introducing a product.
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If your Delphi never transitions toward a sale, adjust Purpose to ensure it subtly builds toward product recommendations.
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If responses feel too aggressive, tweak Style to balance professionalism with conversational warmth.
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Test with different end-user personas (e.g., skeptical buyer vs. interested lead) to see how well Delphi adapts.
If your Delphi’s Purpose is to sell a product, ask:
❓ “What’s the best way to solve [problem]?”
By continuously testing and refining, you ensure Delphi not only understands what to do (Purpose) but also how to say it (Style) in a way that best fits your audience.
Fine-Tuning: Use Case Guides
Follow-Up Questions (AKA Dynamic Questions)
Follow-Up Questions (AKA Dynamic Questions)
Exercises
Exercises
Length
Length