‘Never Talk About Goblins’: OpenAI’s Instructions to Codex Have a Weirdly Emphatic No-Creatures Policy - Goblins are expressly forbidden, along with gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, and pigeons.
2026-05-01 · r/technology
OpenAI's leaked system instructions for Codex reveal a bizarrely specific ban on mentioning goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, and pigeons. Because apparently the biggest threat to AI safety isn't hallucinations or bias — it's fictional creatures. Nothing says 'we have everything under control' like needing an explicit no-goblin policy.