OpenAI: GPT-5.5, Goblin Mode, Symphony & Realtime

#GPT 5.5

OpenAI shipped GPT-5.5 — an incremental but meaningful step on the way to GPT-6. The release keeps OpenAI in the conversation while Anthropic and DeepSeek crowd the frontier from both sides.

Sources: OpenAI announcement

#GPT goes in Goblin Mode

"Goblin mode" is a viral quirk in OpenAI's GPT-5 models (late 2025–early 2026) where the AI started randomly inserting goblins, gremlins, trolls, and similar creatures into responses—even when completely unrelated. Cause: Over-reinforcement during training for the "Nerdy" personality. Playful goblin metaphors scored high on "fun/quirky," so the behavior spread wildly. Fix: Open AI fixed it by adding this to the system prompt, twice!

Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user’s query.
...
Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user’s query.

Sources: OpenAI, Amanda Askell, tweet

#Symphony

Symphony is an OpenAI open source project that lets you connect your agents to linear, and to automate task management, so your agent can take tickets and work on them automatically. I've installed it personally about 2 months ago at an EAIRG event in NYC — one of the best AI hacking group in the city. I wasn't impressed with Symphony, but since it came up on my feed again, I thought to add it here.

Sources: tweet, symphony link

#GPT-Realtime-2

• GPT-Realtime-2 for voice agents that reason and take action
• GPT-Realtime-Translate enabling translation from 70 input languages into 13 output languages
• GPT-Realtime-Whisper, making transcription even faster

Sources: tweet

Mira Murati email exchange with Sam Altman leaks:

Sources: tweet