Making the Most of ChatGPT: Confidence Levels and Source Citing

I recently watched a good YouTube video by Leila Gharani on the advanced features of ChatGPT. Inspired by what I learned, I wanted to share a tip with all of you. If you've ever been curious about how confident ChatGPT is in its responses or where it's sourcing its information, this is for you!

The Importance of Confidence Levels

One thing to note about ChatGPT is that if it doesn't know the answer to a question, it will try its best to provide a relevant response. However, it doesn't explicitly tell you when it's unsure and essentially "guessing" the answer. While this is a limitation, there's a way to gain more insight into the confidence of its responses.

Custom Instructions to the Rescue

By adding the following text under Custom Instructions when interacting with ChatGPT:

"Indicate the confidence level for each response. For factual statements, provide source URLs for all references used. If you speculate or predict something, inform me."

What this does is twofold:

1. Confidence Levels: For each response, ChatGPT will include a confidence level, giving you a clearer idea of how sure it is about the information it's providing.
2. Source Citing: If the answer includes factual information, ChatGPT will provide valid URLs, allowing you to verify and dive deeper into the source of the information.

Example output:

By using these custom instructions, you can enhance your experience with ChatGPT, making it more transparent and informative.

Limitations

This only works in the free version of ChatGPT, not the paid version.

In Conclusion

While AI like ChatGPT is revolutionary and incredibly helpful, it's very important to be aware of its limitations. By utilizing features like confidence levels and source citing, we can make more informed decisions based on its responses. I hope you find this tip useful!