How to Change Your ChatGPT’s Personality to Make It Sound Quirky, Nerdy or Cynical

OpenAI startled ChatGPT users in India on Wednesday after it started sending a pop-up message about the personalities feature. While it is not a new feature, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant upgraded it significantly with the release of GPT-5.1 AI model. Users in India can now select from eight different personality types, and each of them tweaks the chatbot to make the responses appear visibly different. So, if the default version is too bland for you, you can experiment with the other personalities till you find your fit. Know how to do so in a quick few steps.

ChatGPT's Personalities Feature: Details

As per OpenAI”s support page, “A personality is the style and tone ChatGPT uses when responding to you. It is a combination of traits, voice, and behavior that shapes how answers feel, whether that is friendly and casual, concise and professional, or something else entirely.” However, changing personalities does not affect the chatbot's capabilities or any instruction a user gives it to generate an email, essay, and more.

Additionally, all personalities are compatible with the saved memories or custom instructions users have set. In fact, the memories and instructions can override the personality if there is a conflict between the two. Notably, there are eight personalities — Default, Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Nerdy, and Cynical.

How to Activate Personalities in ChatGPT

The process is fairly simple, although there are minor differences based on whether you're using the web interface or the desktop and mobile apps. Below, we have shared the steps for each of them separately.

On ChatGPT web:

1. Select your profile icon in the bottom-right corner.
2. Go to the Personalisation option.
3. Use the drop-down next to Base style and Tone to select a personality.

On ChatGPT mobile and desktop apps:

1. Open the side panel by tapping on the two horizontal lines.
2. Tap on your profile icon or your name.
3. Go to the Personalisation option.
4. Choose your desired personality within the Base Style and Tone drop-down menu.

To go back to the original style of response, just follow the same steps and select default. Once you activate a preset personality, it will be applied across the platform in all conversations, except Projects.