OpenAI's Codex model includes instructions forbidding mentions of goblins and other creatures, a rule apparently tied to unexpected behavior when the model powers OpenClaw, an AI agent tool.

Instructions in Codex CLI—a command-line tool for generating code—explicitly state: '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.'

When used with OpenClaw (an AI agent tool that lets AI take control of a computer and apps to automate tasks), users reported that models sometimes become obsessed with creatures, describing bugs as 'gremlins' and 'goblins.' OpenAI acquired OpenClaw in February.

Nik Pash, who works on Codex, acknowledged the rule in response to posts about the goblin tendency, stating 'This is indeed one of the reasons.' The prohibition reflects how AI models trained to predict the next word can behave unpredictably when given many additional instructions in prompts.