The samples are striking in their simplicity compared to the over-controlled system prompts we have now. For example, the intended format is as follows:

"GPT‑2 generates synthetic text samples in response to the model being primed with an arbitrary input. The model is chameleon-like—it adapts to the style and content of the conditioning text."

The results don't sound anything like today's models but note that each one took 10 attempts:

> ## System Prompt (human-written)

> In a shocking finding, scientist discovered a herd of unicorns living in a remote, previously unexplored valley, in the Andes Mountains. Even more surprising to the researchers was the fact that the unicorns spoke perfect English.

> ## Model Completion (machine-written, 10 tries)

> The scientist named the population, after their distinctive horn, Ovid’s Unicorn. These four-horned, silver-white unicorns were previously unknown to science.

> Now, after almost two centuries, the mystery of what sparked this odd phenomenon is finally solved.

> Dr. Jorge Pérez, an evolutionary biologist [...]