A role is a shortcut to a set of standards
When you write "You are a recruiter who hires marketing managers", you aren't just being polite. You're telling the model which knowledge, vocabulary, and standards to apply: what a recruiter notices, what they skip, and what they'd call weak.
Generic roles vs. specific ones
- ❌ "You are a helpful assistant." It adds nothing the model doesn't already assume.
- ❌ "You are a world-class expert." Flattery, not information.
- ✅ "You are a copy editor for a B2B software blog. Your readers are busy IT managers. Cut anything that doesn't help them decide."
A useful role names the expertise, the audience, and the goal. The last one matters most: an editor whose goal is "cut what doesn't help them decide" behaves differently from one whose goal is "make it more engaging."
Roles for critique, not just creation
Roles are especially good at reviewing work:
- "As a sceptical CFO, list the three questions you'd ask before approving this budget."
- "As a first-time customer who's never heard of us, what's confusing on this page?"
Ask for criticism from a specific point of view and you get sharper feedback than "is this good?"
Personas in Ace
Ace packages roles as personas, with a written system instruction behind each one. In Ask Ace, click Personas to add them to a chat, or mention them with @:
- @Editor (Ruthless Editor): tightens and cuts
- @Copywriter (Viral Marketing Copywriter): hooks and punchy lines
- @Prompt (Prompt Engineer): restructures a prompt for you
- @Advocate (Devil's Advocate): argues the other side
Mention two personas in one message and they answer in turn, which is a quick way to get two perspectives. You can also build your own under Personas → My Personas, which Module 4 uses.
Try it
Paste a short piece of your own writing into Ask Ace. First ask "Improve this." Then ask "@Editor Cut this by a third without losing the main point." Then ask "@Advocate What's the weakest claim here?" Compare the three answers.