- OpenAI’s Codex CLI bans mentions of goblins, gremlins, raccoons, and similar creatures.
- The GPT-5.5 base instructions repeat this ban twice in a 3,500-word directive set.
- The ban applies unless the creatures are clearly relevant to the user’s query.
As AI tools advance, developers are under pressure to block information related to biological and chemical weaponry that could pose a threat to public safety. Although most popular chatbots have security measures to keep this data away from dangerous users, ChatGPT has notably extended its restrictions to include bizarre topics like goblins, gremlins, and raccoons.
According to a report in Wired, OpenAI's Codex CLI, a command-line tool for using AI to generate code, contains bizarre and repeated warnings for the most recent GPT models to 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," reads the instruction in Codex CLI.
The directive is repeated twice in the 3,500-plus-word set of "base instructions" for the recently released GPT-5.5, which also includes reminders to not use emojis or em dashes unless explicitly instructed.
Though it is not clear what prompted OpenAI to add such an instruction, social media users had a field day poking fun by posting memes and prompts involving goblins.
"Been using it a lot lately and it actually can't stop speaking of bugs as 'gremlins' and 'goblins' it's hilarious," said one user, while another added: "I was wondering why my claw suddenly became a goblin with codex 5.5."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also joined in on the fun, stating that codex was having a 'goblin' moment. "Feels like codex is having a chatgpt moment," wrote Altman, adding: "I meant a goblin moment, sorry."
He also posted a screenshot of a prompt for ChatGPT, which read: "Start training GPT-6, you can have the whole cluster. Extra goblins."
Some users noted that OpenAI models powering OpenClaw occasionally fixate on goblins and other creatures. Acknowledging a post about these "goblin tendencies," Nik Pash of the Codex team confirmed the observation, noting, “This is indeed one of the reasons."
