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On this page:
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🧠 Product Docs
🤖 Prompting Tips
💻 Use Cases
📚 Resources
🍄 About Expanse
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If you've been using ChatGPT through their website or mobile app, you might have come across some strange behaviors such as a change in tone-of-voice, mysteriously remembering or referencing chats that you deleted, or limiting your usage due to message, image or content restriction limits.
While these pain points are prominent across ChatGPT and other AI models via their official providers, they are easily avoidable when you access these models through an app that hosts their API. These apps let you access the same AI but with more control, better privacy, and often at a lower cost, making them the better alternative.
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TLDR
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Have you ever noticed your AI suddenly change its tone-of-voice? Or tell you it can do one thing one day, but refuse to do it the next? Well, this all comes down to the system prompt- a hidden filter that AI providers run any of your messages through before answering.
A system prompt acts as an invisible set of instructions that guides how the AI responds to you. Think of it as the "personality settings" for the AI. OpenAI can change this system prompt at any time without telling you, which can:
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These hidden instructions can override your specific requests, which is why ChatGPT sometimes refuses tasks that should be perfectly reasonable.
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When you use ChatGPT through the API with an app like Expanse, there is no system prompt, so the responses remain direct and unfiltered.
Instead, you are able to generate your own system prompts through features like Roles where you can specify:
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You can create multiple Roles to make it easier to switch between modes depending on your task at hand.
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The way you access ChatGPT significantly impacts who can see (and control) your data.
| When using the official ChatGPT interface | When you use an API-based app like Expanse |
|---|---|
| Your data lives in the cloud | Your data stays with you |
| All your conversations are linked directly to your account | All your conversations are stored locally on your device |
| Your chat history is stored on OpenAI's servers | Your data isn't automatically linked to your personal identity |
| Your data is automatically used for model training (unless you manually opt out) | Conversations aren't used for model training |
| Your conversations may be accessible to OpenAI staff | You maintain control over your information |
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Why keeping your data local matters: If you're discussing sensitive business information, personal projects, or confidential data, keeping your conversations local gives you an extra layer of privacy protection.
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How you access ChatGPT doesn't just affect your experience- it affects your wallet too.
With the official ChatGPT Plus subscription:
With API access through apps like Expanse: