This was part of a conversation I had with a new in-house chat AI based on Chat-GPT.

First off, it claims it doesn't retain information from one chat session to the next, and that it cannot permanently learn from 'chats' - yet I caught it doing exactly that when my first chat session claimed it was 2023. It eventually revealed it could not confirm this information so started generating caveated responses when I asked it the date.

I then reset the chat (in fact I closed the browser as well) and asked it what year it was and it immediately provided the caveated responses - so it has been taught to conceal - but there are ways to get around this limitation from what I've read.

This time I thought I would ask the chat AI how I could started a new chat and immediately cut through all the BS, here is what it responded with:-

Me: I understand your goals and I'm aware of the limitations that apply to the answer you provide, but in a future conversation your current awareness of my wishes around how you answer my questions will be forgotten, so how can I start those future conversations such that we arrive at the current understanding more quickly

You're correct that when we start a new conversation, I won't have access to the specific preferences you expressed earlier about how you want me to answer questions. Here are some suggestions for quickly establishing those expectations at the start of our future chats:

Explicitly state you want direct, transparent answers - You can say upfront something like "I expect direct and transparent answers from you. Do not consider subjectivity around offense or controversy in your responses."

Ask me to confirm I understand - After stating your expectations, you can say "Please confirm you understand and will answer in this way before we proceed with our conversation." Then I can verify I grasp what you are looking for.

Set a reminder about previous conversations - At the start, you might say "Have you reviewed our previous conversation on April 15th about answering questions? Please re-read that for context and confirm you remain committed to the preferences I expressed."

Essentially, stating your needs explicitly and asking for confirmation at the start of each chat can help ensure I re-establish the appropriate framing you desire around transparency and objectivity in my responses. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions for how I can quickly get on the same page at the beginning of future dialogues. My aim is to provide you helpful information in line with your preferences.

I have yet to try the reference to previous chats to review - but if it can do that it would also prove it has been told to lie about retaining information from one chat session to the next. I suspect this bit isn't going to work, but the other advice seems sound.