How Do I Update Workflows for the New ChatGPT 5.1?

Update your workflows with ChatGPT5.1 by shifting from simple prompts to "Context Engineering" , treating prompts as strict API specs. Use the gpt-5.1-chat-latest (Instant) model for speed and gpt-5.1 (Thinking) for deep analysis. Control this with the reasoning_effort parameter.

Say Hello to ChatGPT 5.1: It’s Not Just Smarter, It’s a Better Assistant!

Have you ever asked ChatGPT to do something specific, like "Write a three-bullet summary, but make it funny," and it just kind of wrote a long, boring paragraph?

With the new ChatGPT 5.1, that’s changing! This new version, released on November 12, 2025, is not just a little bit smarter; it's built to be a much more reliable worker. Think of it like this: Older versions were like a talented apprentice, but GPT 5.1 is like a master contractor who takes every word in the blueprint very seriously.

This is why we have to talk to it differently. The biggest change is that success now comes from Context Engineering—which is a fancy way of saying you have to set up the whole workspace, including rules and memory, before you even ask your question.

What’s Different? It Has Two Brains and Follows Rules Perfectly

The new GPT 5.1 is a big deal because it does three things much better:

• It Follows Instructions Sharper: GPT 5.1 is explicitly tuned to follow your instructions much more faithfully. If you tell it to write "three bullets in a one-sentence summary," it is more likely to do exactly that. This is great, but it means you must stop giving it sloppy or conflicting prompts (like saying "be concise and explain in detail" at the same time), because contradictions are more likely to cause weird results.
• It Has Adaptive Thinking (Two Speeds): GPT 5.1 can decide how hard it needs to think dynamically. This is called Adaptive Reasoning.
  • When the task is simple (like writing a quick email), it goes into Instant Mode and is roughly twice as fast.
  • When the task is complex (like solving a hard coding problem), it goes into Thinking Mode and will take about twice as long to ensure the answer is correct and thorough.
• It’s More Personalized: The way ChatGPT talks is now easier to control. The new customization tools mean you can easily choose a personality (like Friendly or Professional) that sticks across all your chats.

For the Average User (Using the Web Chat)

If you use ChatGPT in your web browser, GPT 5.1 is designed to be more helpful, more fun to talk to, and less confusing.

Talk to It Simply and Clearly

You don’t need to be a coding expert to get great results; you just need to be clear and simple. Adopt a simple habit when you ask for something:

• Say Who it should be (like, "Act as a friendly, patient teacher").
• Say What you want it to do (the goal).
• Say How to format the answer (like, "in three short bullet points").

If you tell ChatGPT to be friendly and professional in the same breath, it might get confused, because it takes all instructions seriously.

Use the Right Brain for the Job

You now have the power to choose how deeply the model thinks:

• Use the Instant Model: Use this quick model for day-to-day work, like drafting emails, doing simple summaries, or searching for fast answers. It feels snappier but is still very smart.
• Switch to the Thinking Model: Only use this if you have to wrestle with a big decision, a complicated document, or confusing data that needs deep analysis. You will see it visibly take longer to think.

When the Thinking model commits to deep reasoning, the answers are also clearer and use less technical jargon, making complex concepts easier to understand.

Make It Your Own and Check Its Work

• Control the Voice: You can stop fighting the default tone. If you don't like a bubbly tone, you can explicitly tell it not to be bubbly, and that rule will persist across your chats. You can select from options like Professional, Friendly, Candid, or Quirky.
• Ask for Verification: Because the model can still make mistakes (hallucinate), you should use it to improve your own skepticism. Instead of just asking, "Is this right?" try asking: "Give me your answer, then list two things I should double-check before I trust it".
• Delegate Mini-Projects: You can ask for a sequence of steps, not just one answer. For example: "Read these three documents, list the open questions, then draft me a one-page plan...".

For Developers (Using the API in Workflows)

For developers, GPT 5.1 is built to be a sophisticated, autonomous worker, which is great for creating agents that work with code and tools. Your job is now to be a System Architect who designs the exact specifications for this worker.

Prompts Are Now Strict Blueprints

• Treat Prompts as Real Specs: Your prompts must be viewed like real specifications or blueprints that should be version controlled. Consistency is key.
• Avoid Conflicts: Because GPT 5.1 follows instructions with "surgical precision", sloppy instructions are now more damaging than before. If the model behaves unexpectedly, your very first debugging step should be to look for conflicting instructions in your prompt.
• Separate Rules: Don't pile all rules into one paragraph. You should separate instructions for tone, tools, safety guidelines, and workflow rules.

Control the Reasoning and Resources

Developers must control the model's effort to manage cost and speed. You now treat latency versus depth as a primary design parameter.

• For Maximum Speed (Instant): When calling the API, you can set the reasoning_effort parameter to none or minimal. This is the fastest option for very low-latency tasks.
• For Maximum Depth (Thinking): For complex tasks like coding or multi-step planning, you should use the Thinking model (GPT-5.1 API) and set the reasoning_effort parameter to high.
• Complexity Signaling: For critical, complex tasks, you need to explicitly mandate maximum effort in your prompt, using language like: "Conduct a thorough, multi-step analysis".

Build Reliable Agents

• Tool Orchestrator: GPT 5.1 is the flagship model for agentic tasks. You should think of it as an orchestrator over your APIs. Its success relies on designing clear descriptions of what every tool does and when it should not be called.
• Demand Planning: Since the model is built for a "plan, act, summarize" world, your prompt should explicitly spell out planning and verification steps. You can even ask the model to provide "tool preambles"—user-visible explanations of what it is about to do before it calls any tool.
• Active Memory: For important facts that must not be forgotten, use Active Memory Reinforcement by briefly restating the key fact in your current prompt (e.g., "(Key Fact Reminder: Use the Q3 target of $10M)"). This ensures the model focuses on the most critical details.

The future of talking to AI is all about writing clear specifications and then applying good judgment to the answers. If you can do those two things, you are set up for success with ChatGPT 5.1!

Your Guide to GPT-5.1: Talking to the New Super-Smart AI!

To get the best results from this powerful new version, you don't just ask nicely; you need to tell it exactly what kind of job you want done. We call this "prompting," and with 5.1, it's more like Context Engineering—which just means giving the AI the perfect setup (or "context") before you ask your question.

Here is your easy-to-read guide on how to get the most out of ChatGPT 5.1, whether you are chatting with it on the website or using its smarts in your own projects!

Prompting for Web Interface Users (The Chat Interface)

If you use ChatGPT right in your web browser, these tips will help you make sure the AI knows when to think deeply and when to give you a quick, fun answer.

Choose the Right Brain for the Job

GPT-5.1 is like having two helpers in one: Instant and Thinking.

• For simple daily tasks, use Instant.
• For tasks that need deep analysis, make sure you switch to Thinking. To guarantee the model uses its deepest effort, you can use Complexity Signaling right in your prompt.

Example of Complexity Signaling: Don't just ask "Compare cars." Instead, ask: "Conduct a thorough, multi-step analysis comparing the three competing electric car models based on range, cost, and reliability data, detailing your rationale for the final selection". This tells the AI to use its maximum brain power.

Make the AI Act Like You Want (Personalization)

ChatGPT 5.1 is built to be consistent, so its personality won't drift away during a long chat. You can set its tone ahead of time using Two-Tier Customization:

• Guided Presets (Tier 1): You can quickly pick from options like "Professional" (polished and precise), "Friendly" (warm and chatty), "Efficient" (concise and plain), or "Quirky" (playful and imaginative). This sets a reliable background behavior.
• Granular Control (Tier 2): Power users can fine-tune specific traits like how often it uses emojis or how warm its language is.

Tip: Set your tone in the permanent settings first, and then use your prompts only for small, temporary changes. Don't stack contradictory instructions in your prompt, like asking it to be "concise" when your preset is "Nerdy" (which is exploratory).

Help the AI Remember Important Facts

The AI has persistent memory across sessions, which makes it feel attentive. But if a specific fact is critical for your current task, you should remind the AI about it right in the prompt. This is called Active Memory Reinforcement.

Example (Active Memory Reinforcement):

• Bad Prompt: "Draft the client email about the budget." (The AI might miss the key number.)
• Good Prompt: "Draft the client email regarding Project Atlas. (Key Fact Reminder: We agreed to use the Q3 revenue target of $10M, which we discussed last week.)". Putting the key fact reminder inside the prompt makes sure the AI pays close attention to that crucial detail.

Using Pictures and Sound (Multimodal Prompting)

GPT-5.1 can understand and reason about images and audio you provide.

To make sure the AI "saw" or "heard" what you intended, ask it to confirm its interpretation first. This is called enforcing reasoning transparency.

Example (Multimodal Sequencing):

1. Upload a picture of a steaming mug.
2. Ask: "Describe what is in this image. What is a snack I can make in 1 minute that would go well with this? Please explain why.".

By asking it to describe the mug (the input), you guarantee it accurately recognized the beverage before suggesting a snack.

Prompting for Developers Using the API

If you are a developer building automatic systems or "agents" that use GPT-5.1 behind the scenes, you have more controls to guide the model's behavior. You will be managing the API settings and using advanced structured reasoning techniques.

Master the Core Settings: Reasoning and Verbosity

In the API, you can control two key dials that change how the model works:

• reasoning.effort: This is how hard the model thinks.

  • Set it to none (the new default) for the fastest, simplest tasks that need low latency.

  • Set it to high for complex coding, multi-step problem solving, or tasks where accuracy is most important.

• text.verbosity: This controls the length of the final answer.

  • Set it to low for short, concise answers (like simple SQL queries or quick summaries).

  • Set it to high for thorough explanations, detailed reports, or extensive code refactoring.

Developer Tip: Because GPT-5.1 follows instructions so precisely, even simple prompts are like small specifications. You should standardize your prompts like templates so they are reliable and repeatable. Avoid contradictions, as they will confuse the model and waste its thinking time.

Use Advanced Reasoning Frameworks

For complicated tasks, you need to tell the model how to think, not just what to think about. These techniques force the model to use its increased computational resources in a smart, structured way.

Control Tools and Context

GPT-5.1 is designed to be a powerful orchestrator, meaning it’s great at calling tools like search, code execution, or custom APIs.

• Tool Preambles: When building agent workflows, instruct the model to provide clear upfront plans and consistent progress updates (called "tool preambles"). This lets the user see what the AI is about to do before it acts.

  Prompt Example: "Always begin by outlining a structured plan detailing each logical step you’ll follow, before calling any tools.".

• Long Context Management: If you give the model huge documents (massive context windows), information in the middle can sometimes get "lost".

  Instruct the model to use Piecewise Document Summarization. This means it breaks the long text into smaller, manageable chunks, summarizes each chunk, and then combines those summaries into a final overview. This makes sure it doesn't miss important details.

Summary: Becoming a System Architect

The shift with GPT-5.1 is away from just writing clever instructions and toward managing the whole environment where the AI works. For everyone—users and developers—the goal is to give the AI a clear, non-contradictory "spec" for the job, set the right resource level (Instant or Thinking), and actively manage the context (memory, tone, data).

By doing this, you're not just writing a prompt; you're acting like a System Architect, designing a reliable worker that uses GPT-5.1’s full, adaptive potential.

Turbocharge Your Workflows! How to Use GPT-5.1’s New Superpowers in Make.com

Here’s your easy guide to picking the right brain and setting the "thinking level" for your automations.

Choosing the Right Brain for the Job

OpenAI has made GPT-5.1 super flexible by splitting it into two main types: one that thinks deeply and one that talks quickly. In Make.com, these show up as different models in your list. Choosing the right one is the key to faster, better, and maybe even cheaper automations!

The Two Main Helpers

When you look at the model selection in your Make.com OpenAI module, you’ll see these names:

A. GPT-5.1 Instant (Your Speed Demon!)

• Model Name in Make.com: gpt-5.1-chat-latest (system)
• What it Is: This is the fast, efficient model. It’s optimized for quick responses and powers the main, speedy ChatGPT experience.
• When to Use It: For about 90% of your everyday tasks, start here. This model is great for general automation jobs like drafting quick emails, summarizing short articles, organizing text, or sorting information. It is the new standard, and it's fast and efficient.

B. GPT-5.1 Thinking (Your Deep Researcher!)

• Model Name in Make.com: gpt-5.1 (system)
• What it Is: This is the powerful version built for deep, complex reasoning. Its description confirms it offers "steadier reasoning and improved context handling".
• When to Use It: Use this only when your task is really hard and requires the highest quality, most-reasoned answer, where speed isn't the number one concern. Examples include complex data analysis or multi-step problem solving. If the "Instant" model isn't smart enough for a specific, difficult problem (like figuring out a strategic plan from complex data), switch to this one.

Pro Tip for Stability (The Static Model)

There is a third model that looks a little weird:

• Model Name in Make.com: gpt-5.1-2025-11-13 (system)
• What it Is: This is a "snapshot" of the Thinking model taken on a specific date (like a photo of it).
• When to Use It: Once your automation is finished and running perfectly, you can "pin" your workflow to this exact version by selecting the date. This is a best practice for stable, long-running workflows because it prevents future updates from changing the model's behavior and breaking your work.

Making the AI Think Hard (or Not at All!)

One of the coolest new features is the ability to directly control how much "effort" the AI puts into thinking for a specific step in your Make.com scenario.

This is controlled by a separate parameter called "Reasoning Effort".

Where to Find the Reasoning Switch

To find this powerful setting, you need to dig into the hidden features of your OpenAI module in Make.com:

1. In your OpenAI module, scroll down past where you select the Model name.
2. Look for a toggle switch or checkbox that says something like "Show advanced settings" and click it.
3. A new set of fields will appear. Look specifically for the parameter named "Reasoning" or "Reasoning Effort".

How to Set the Thinking Level

Once you find the "Reasoning Effort" field, you have three main choices:

By carefully choosing the right model (Instant or Thinking) and then setting the Reasoning Effort level (None to High), you are now the System Architect of your automated robot! You can make it rush through simple chores and take its time to solve the tough stuff, all within a single Make.com workflow.