2 September 2026

Anthropic adjusts Claude chatbot to write shorter, more direct answers

First reported

Simon Willison ran this on .

  • Anthropic, the company behind Claude, updated the instructions that guide how the chatbot responds to users.
  • The new instructions tell Claude to cut unnecessary phrases like 'genuinely' and 'honestly', trim long disclaimers, and get to the point faster.
  • Users will now see Claude answers that are more concise and focused on directly addressing what was asked.

How it was covered

Simon WillisonDaily notes and links

New Fable 5.1 instructions direct Claude to keep responses focused and brief, avoid disclaimers that overwhelm main answers, and stop using filler phrases like 'genuinely' and 'honestly'. The newsletter frames this as Anthropic refining Claude's response style.