ChatGPT Keeps Giving You Lazy Answers? One Line Fix

You ask a real question and ChatGPT gives you the answer a tired intern would give. Surface level, technically correct, zero depth. (It did the bare minimum and looked proud about it.)

It is not dumb. It is sandbagging. One line snaps it out of it.

The line

Add this:

"Think step by step and give me the version you would give an expert who wants depth, not a beginner who wants comfort."

That last part matters. You are telling it the reader is sharp and wants the real thing.

Why lazy is the default

The model optimizes for an answer that satisfies the most people, and most people bounce off depth. So it plays it safe and shallow unless you tell it the stakes are higher. (Beige answers for a beige audience.)

ChatGPT matches the effort it thinks you want. Tell it you want depth and it stops coasting.

Naming the audience and asking for step-by-step reasoning forces it to actually work the problem instead of pattern-matching to the easy reply.

You are not getting a smarter model. You are getting the effort the model was already capable of. Go demand it.