ChatGPT Business user finds the seat without custom instructions works far better
BraveBrush8890 · reddit · 2026-10-02
A ChatGPT Business subscriber discovered his cross-app custom instructions may be hurting model performance. His primary seat, configured with personalization for knowledge work, performed erratically and burned through usage quickly.
Too lazy to replicate the setup, he used the second seat (added only to meet the two-seat minimum for zero data retention) with default settings — and it performed dramatically better and more efficiently, to the point he shipped two browser extensions with it.
Comparing similar conversations across both accounts, he concluded the custom instructions were the culprit behind the inconsistency.
Related event: Removing ChatGPT custom instructions may actually improve performance(2 posts)→
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