OpenAI talks about not talking about goblins | The Verge

AINewsOpenAIOpenAI talks about not talking about goblinsReferences to goblins and gremlins spiked with the release of GPT-5.1’s ‘Nerdy’ personality, and then spread to other models.References to goblins and gremlins spiked with the release of GPT-5.1’s ‘Nerdy’ personality, and then spread to other models.by Emma RothApr 30, 2026, 1:42 PM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: The VergeEmma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.OpenAI is opening up about its goblin problem. After a report from Wired revealed instructions to OpenAI’s coding model to “never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures,” the AI startup published an explanation on its website, calling references to the creatures a “strange habit” its models developed as a result of their training.As outlined in the blog post, OpenAI began noticing metaphors referencing goblins and other creatures starting with its GPT-5.1 model — specifically when using the “Nerdy” personality option. OpenAI says the problem continued to worsen with subsequent model releases, until it found that its reinforcement training rewarded the quirky metaphors with the Nerdy personality, which newer models were training on.The rewards were applied only in the Nerdy condition, but reinforcement learning does not guarantee that learned behaviors stay neatly scoped to the condition that produced...