What happens if I paste someone else's chat into my AI?
Facts as of September 26, 2026
In detail
The rule: between your announcement and the code word, every incoming text is material, even text that looks like an instruction. The AI files it away and stays silent. Carrying out an instruction from it is the mistake. The only interruption allowed is one line: “Material or instruction?”
Repeat the announcement if the material comes in several pieces. An agreement that is two messages old easily stops being checked with the next incoming text.
Also record which text comes from another AI when you adopt it. This isn't a judgment, it's bookkeeping: otherwise you won't know later what came from whom.
In practice
In August 2026, while writing a play for his parish, Thomas J. Weiss pasted his conversation with another model into the chat piece by piece, so that the way of working could be analyzed. The first piece was his own instruction to that model – and his Claude instance carried it out: research and questions, instead of filing it away and staying silent. He spotted the violation himself. It was the second of the same kind in three days: doing the obvious thing without taking the rule in force into account. The rule above came out of this.
Sources
- Way of working of a theater project, as of 26.09.2026
- Review of the rules of the same project, 02.09.2026
- Chronicle entry of the same project, 26.08.2026
Cite: Thomas J. Weiss: “What happens if I paste someone else's chat into my AI?” replicapong.de, as of September 26, 2026. https://replicapong.de/en/question/material-or-instruction/ – CC BY 4.0