How Do I specify a requirement for a word count?

How do I...?
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I’m producing Google Business Posts. I need a word count of between 100-180 words per post. Chat GPT will not follow my directions. How should I phrase this requirement?

Thanks.

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One thing that always improves results is giving some examples along with your prompt, so you could certainly do that. However, before worrying too much about ‘how’, I’d very much encourage further consideration of whether the ‘why’ makes sense. Google are very, very much against using AI for this kind of purpose. To the folks at Google, they believe that if the humans at a business can’t think of anything interesting to say about a business, say nothing at all. It may not be easy for Google to detect such a small text as being AI generated, but the penalty if they do so can be very, very harsh, losing the business listing altogether.

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Word count constraint is difficult to achieve. I’ve been trying it myself for some of my prompts, but doesn’t work. In fact I tried to check if there was an issue with prompt instructions, not the case though. Unsure if it is the same with GPT 4.0. For GPT 3.5 it doesn’t seem to work yet.

I tried “Adhere to a desired word count [Word Count]” and “Strive for a word count [Word Count]”

if this works for you, please let me know as well. Thank you

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I believe the most reliable way to achieve this is by using the GPT-4 Code Interpreter model with a prompt like:

Use the python tool to ensure that the written post has a maximum of X words.

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I experience the same issue regardless of which prompt is used. Earlier this year articles produced were really nice, but now like it don’t respect the prompt. Instead of 1000 words it gives 300, 600 totally random but never correctly. I use v1.1.11.14 ChatGPT 3.5

I was considering to upgrade but this seems more like a ChatGPT issue than the prompt itself? Anyone else with the same issues, is there any way to fix it?

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See the discussion above

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I would love to know if this worked for you?

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Sometimes it works. Most of the times ‘No’.

I tried ‘strictly adhere to’, Ensure, Remember, Do not forget etc.

They work most of the times.

Another approach is to remind ChatGPT after you receive an output, to check word count.

Usually, ChatGPT generates approx word count. Let’s say you ask for 800 words, it may give you anything in the range of 600 to 1000.

I also noticed a lot depends on the usage of words while setting instructions. For example, if you use ‘up to 800 words’, ‘within 800 words’ etc, the outcome might be far less than the specified word count.

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Promts that state the result should be a specific number of words eg 800 to 1500
do not result in a word count within that range

i tried to reword the prompt and even using one the the most popular prompts, to rewrite an article
But every time it a way to short.

is there a way around this pls?

thanks Kev

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Word count is always an issue. More to do with GPT I guess than the prompt. That’s what I believe. Let’s hope someone may have found a solution and is glad to share.

Try using words like ‘strictly adhere to the word count of X words’ or ‘Remember to adhere’ or Do not forget to adhere’ etc. Or strictly adhere to an exact word count of between X to Y no less or no more’ or ‘It is very important or it is crucial that you strictly adhere to the word count of’

If you use words such as ‘maximum X words or within X words, these are not too specific, the output usually would be far less.

All in all, in my experience, usually word count hasn’t worked so well for me yet.