An introductory educational resource for small newsrooms and local journalists interested in building custom ChatGPT bots, known as ‘GPTs.’ This guide was created by Joe Amditis, assistant director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University.

Questions? Contact Joe on Twitter at @jsamditis or via email at [email protected].

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*Hi there! If you found this guidebook useful, consider dropping a few coins in the tip jar so we can make more stuff like this! Here’s the link to make a tax-deductible donation to the Center for Cooperative Media. Every little bit helps.

Thanks, and enjoy! — Joe

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<aside> 📖 TABLE OF CONTENTS

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<aside> 🙄 Feels like I have to mention this, even though I think it’s kind of dumb: Yes, I know about all the recent insanity going on at OpenAI. I started working on this guide weeks ago and I care more about on the utility of the tools themselves than the jockeying of CEOs and tech companies, even though they obviously have impacts on the tools. Will ChatGPT and its API collapse and disappear? I doubt it. Will LLM technology suddenly become irrelevant even if OpenAI dissolves? Again, doubtful. That being said, read this guide at your own risk. (11/20/23)

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🤔 Section 1: What is a custom GPT?

What exactly is a “custom” GPT and how is it different than ChatGPT? And what’s wrong with whoever is in charge of naming products at OpenAI?

The second question remains a mystery, but I'm going to try and answer the first question as best I can over the next few sections.