Check this week's appointments with ChatGPT's calendar access, and get one wrong by 24 hours (failure)
- Posted
- by Ali van der Laan (@AlivanderLaan)
- Last checked
- Method:
- How we verify
Evidence: Screenshots or logsThe source shows screenshots, a transcript or the agent's output.
FailureThe source says the agent did not get the job done.
What went wrong: ChatGPT gave an appointment time that was 24 hours out and defended it.
Outcome
Ali van der Laan found Claude struggled with Google Calendar on an iPhone and switched to ChatGPT for calendar management. Their first question was what they had on that week. ChatGPT gave the wrong time for an appointment, off by 24 hours, and then wrote reams justifying it.
Agent
Prompt Recreated prompt
The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: List what's in my calendar this week, exactly as it's saved. Fill in before running: - Which calendar(s) to read: [CALENDARS] - My time zone: [TIME ZONE] Rules: - Copy each event's date, start time and time zone exactly from the calendar; don't infer or adjust them. - Show the day of the week next to each date. - Point out any events that span time zones or have been moved recently. - If you're unsure about a time, say so and show me the raw entry rather than explaining it away. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: A simple list of this week's events by day. You'll know it worked when: every time on the list matches the calendar.
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Your prompt
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: List what's in my calendar this week, exactly as it's saved. Fill in before running: - Which calendar(s) to read: [CALENDARS] - My time zone: [TIME ZONE] Rules: - Copy each event's date, start time and time zone exactly from the calendar; don't infer or adjust them. - Show the day of the week next to each date. - Point out any events that span time zones or have been moved recently. - If you're unsure about a time, say so and show me the raw entry rather than explaining it away. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: A simple list of this week's events by day. You'll know it worked when: every time on the list matches the calendar.
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Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: List what's in my calendar this week, exactly as it's saved. Fill in before running: - Which calendar(s) to read: [CALENDARS] - My time zone: [TIME ZONE] Rules: - Copy each event's date, start time and time zone exactly from the calendar; don't infer or adjust them. - Show the day of the week next to each date. - Point out any events that span time zones or have been moved recently. - If you're unsure about a time, say so and show me the raw entry rather than explaining it away. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Double-check each date against the day of the week before replying. Output: A simple list of this week's events by day. You'll know it worked when: every time on the list matches the calendar. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Source
https://x.com/AlivanderLaan/status/2055995037507305760
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