“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,” the source code reads.<\/p>\n
The sentence appears four times in the code.<\/p>\n
In the prior days, some users posted screenshots of their conversations with GPT 5.5, including references to these mythical creatures. <\/p>\n
why is gpt5.5 so obsessed with goblins<\/p>\n
\u2014 Andy Ayrey (@AndyAyrey) April 25, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n “Why is gpt5.5 so obsessed with goblins,” asked one user on X, who posted screenshots showing the AI recommending a particular type of camera equipment<\/a> “if you want filthy neon sparkle goblin mode.” Another example showed the AI referencing “goblin bandwidth” or giving “an even shorter goblin version” of its answer.<\/p>\n Repo Prompt founder Eric Provencher posted on X<\/a> that GPT 5.5 said, “I’ll keep babysitting it rather than leave a little perf gremlin running unattended.” An OpenAI engineer responded<\/a>: “I thought we fixed this sorry.”<\/p>\n The AI evaluation website Arena.ai also found an increase in GPT 5.5’s usage of the words goblin, gremlin, and troll. The increase was especially noticeable when not using high-thinking mode, Arena found.<\/p>\n Since the line was spotted, OpenAI’s goblin instruction has spun out into a meme. X users posted screenshots<\/a> of their conversations, prompting about goblins and gremlins.<\/p>\n Many users<\/a> online<\/a> referenced the term “goblin mode.” Defined as “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy,” the term was Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n OpenAI also got in on the jokes. ChatGPT included the line in its bio on X. Codex engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux posted the line<\/a> with the shortening “If you know, you know.”<\/p>\n ChatGPT added the goblin instruction to its bio on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n Screenshot via X<\/p>\n Citrini Research shook the market in February<\/a> with a Substack post about the future of the economy with AI. The research outfit had a more negative outlook<\/a> on the goblin saga, calling OpenAI’s response “insane.”<\/p>\n OpenAI CEO Sam Altman chimed in, first with a meme<\/a> about asking for “extra goblins” in GPT-6. Then he wrote that Codex was having a ChatGPT moment, before correcting himself<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I meant a goblin moment, sorry,” Altman wrote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n