Welcome back to The Flop—your cozy corner for demystifying AI with warmth, wit, and a dash of whimsy!

🐰 Down the Rabbit Hole

What’s a Custom ChatBot (and How Does It Work)?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring what a chatbot is and which are the most popular ones.

Today we’re talking about custom chatbots - what they are and how you can create your own custom chatbot.

Think of it like this:
A regular chatbot is like a helpful assistant who’s read every book in the library — but doesn’t know you personally.

A custom chatbot is like handing that assistant a binder packed with your preferences, notes, and special instructions, so when they help you, they’re not just smart — they’re smart for you.

A custom chatbot is a personalized version of a chatbot that you create by giving it:
✅ Instructions — how it should behave, what role it plays
✅ Context — details it should always remember when helping you

You’re not changing the AI’s underlying brain (no need to code or retrain it). Instead, the AI uses this information to shape its responses, drawing on the same powerful engine but filtered through your personalized guidance.

In short: you’re creating a specialized helper who knows you, making everyday tasks smoother, faster, and a lot more fun.

Most major platforms offer simple tools to help you create a custom chatbot. Each platform has its own name for these personalized helpers, but they all work in a similar way. Here are the top 3:

Next up: let’s dive into how to make a custom chatbot…

🛠️AI Hack of the Week

Meet Feast Bot, My Custom Chatbot for Meal Planning

Okay, now that we know what a custom chatbot is, here’ s an example of one I created that saves me time each week.

Introducing Feast Bot, my custom GPT for meal planning.

Here’s what Feast Bot does:
- Plans meals based on our family preferences
- Builds a grocery list for me each week .

✅ Step-by-Step: Creating a Meal Planning GPT

1. Open the GPT Builder
   In ChatGPT, I clicked GPTs on the left navigation. Then I clicked +Create up in the right-hand corner.

   

2. Click the Create Tab
   You will land in the Configure tab by default. Click on the Configure tab. This tab allows you to have a conversation and explain what you want the custom GPT to do.

   

3. Add Preferences
   I added our likes and dislikes to the GPT so it was even more personalized.

   

4.  Create & Test
   I hit Create in the top right corner, and then I tested it out (it will prompt you to use the custom GPT after you’ve created it). It did a pretty good job on the first try.

5. Tweak

   You can continue to tweak your custom GPT by editing it and adding further instructions. To edit, you click the Purple Gem Icon, find your custom GPT in the list and click the Edit icon.

   

6. You’ll find yourself back in the Create screen where you can make modifications.

   

7. So there you have it - how to create a custom chatbot in 5 easy steps!

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🌳 Moment of Calm

AI Antidote: Where in the World?

Before we wrap, here’s a little moment of calm for your eyeballs. No AI, no productivity hack—just nature doing its thing.

Can you guess which National Park this is?

Congrats to Todd who correctly guessed last week’s mystery photo — Joshua Tree! 🌵👏

Want to be featured next week? Hit reply with your best guess and you might land a spot in this feel-good corner of the newsletter.

👋 Until Next Week

Thanks for being here. I know your inbox is a busy place, and I hope this one made you feel just a little smarter and more prepared in this new world of AI.

Warmly,
Ricci

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