I told ChatGPT there was an 'extremely lazy person' here and its answers got way better

Date:
Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:22:24 +0000

Description:
A tiny ChatGPT prompt addition condenses overly detailed answers into genuinely useful ones.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Sometimes, ChatGPT answers feel like they're written to impress rather than help, but this small tweak to your prompts can carve a shortcut right through them.

For all its vaunted power, ChatGPT sometimes comes off as insecure and desperate to show every detail it has to hand, regardless of relevance to
your actual question. My latest trick gets it to understand that you don't want to hack your way through a bramble of words. It's simple tell the AI,
in the middle of your query, that there's an extremely lazy person here. It can turn an overly verbose response into something far more practical, and sometimes surprisingly clever. Article continues below You may like ChatGPT's hidden creativity levers and how to flip them This trick will have ChatGPT
and Gemini get straight to the point ChatGPT improves when you ask twice or more Try it. It reframes the conversation and your goals, nudging the AI away from textbook thoroughness and toward the bare (though still complete) minimum. An immediate improvement In practice, the difference can feel immediate. Ask for help cooking pasta, and you would normally get a tidy sequence of steps that includes timing, water ratios, and reminders about seasoning.

Add the "lazy" qualifier, and suddenly you only get the basics. In this case, boil water, add a little salt, dump pasta, stir once, taste until not
crunchy, drain, eat. It is hard to argue with the efficiency, even if it
might leave a few culinary purists wincing.

The same effect shows up in more complex tasks a request for help organizing a workday might usually deliver a plan with hourly blocks and productivity tips. With the added phrase, one version boiled it down to Pick three
things, do them first, ignore everything else until done. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The advice reads almost bluntly, yet it captures a truth that the longer answer has buried under layers of structure. (Image credit: OpenAI / Future) Lazy perfection What makes this trick interesting is not just that it
shortens responses, but that it changes their priorities. ChatGPT is trained to be complete, which the AI model often translates into a need to over explain.

By framing the user as someone unwilling to wade through details, the model starts going for clarity in a different way it trims context, cuts disclaimers, and leans on instinct. What to read next Tired of ChatGPT
baiting you with follow-up questions? Make this one change This trick will
get ChatGPT to question itself The "frenemy" prompt makes ChatGPT an ideal critic

Of course, there are limits. Some topics benefit from depth, and stripping them down too far can remove useful nuance. The "lazy" trick works best in everyday scenarios where the goal is simply to get moving, not to master a subject.

Even so, the appeal is easy to understand small prompt choices can steer tone, length, and even personality. This particular tweak is a reminder that the simplest instruction is sometimes the most effective. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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