Latest news with #JulianLee
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
The OPEC+ Production Boost May Have a Bigger Bark Than Bite
Newsletter Energy Daily The real increase in output will likely be smaller than the headline figure, with perhaps only half reaching the market. By Save Welcome to our guide to the commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, oil strategist Julian Lee assesses whether markets can absorb the production increases approved by OPEC+. Oil ministers from OPEC+ members agreed on another big increase in production targets for July. But is there room for those barrels without crashing prices?
Bloomberg
16-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Oil Market's Missing Barrels Have Gone Up in Smoke
Welcome to our guide to the commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, oil strategist Julian Lee assesses the consequences from a statistical revision to worldwide consumption. Amid the doom and gloom of falling crude prices and weakening demand growth, oil bulls could find one nugget of cheer in the latest report from the International Energy Agency: a modest upward revision to historical consumption.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Forbes
How To Prompt The New ChatGPT, According To OpenAI
How to prompt the new ChatGPT, according to OpenAI The latest version of ChatGPT is significantly more powerful but requires new prompting techniques. The model now follows instructions more literally and makes fewer assumptions about what you're asking for. This matters for entrepreneurs using the tool. Don't build on outdated advice. Don't prompt using subpar words. You're better than that. Poorly constructed prompts waste your time and money. Get it right, and you unlock a significantly more capable AI. OpenAI team members Noah MacCallum and Julian Lee have released extensive documentation for how to prompt their new models. Here's a summary of their prompting guidance, so you can get the most out of the tool. Prompting techniques that worked for previous models might actually hinder your results with the latest versions. ChatGPT-4.1 follows instructions more literally than its predecessors, which used to liberally infer intent. This is both good and bad. The good news is ChatGPT is now highly steerable and responsive to well-specified prompts. The bad news is your old prompts need an overhaul. Most people still use basic prompts that barely scratch the surface of what's possible. They type simple questions or requests, then wonder why their results feel generic. OpenAI has now revealed how they trained the model to respond, helping you get exactly what you want from their most advanced models. Start by organizing your prompts with clear sections. OpenAI recommends a basic structure with specific components: • Role and objective: Tell ChatGPT who it should act as and what it's trying to accomplish • Instructions: Provide specific guidelines for the task • Reasoning steps: Indicate how you want it to approach the problem • Output format: Specify exactly how you want the response structured • Examples: Show samples of what you expect • Context: Provide necessary background information • Final instructions: Include any last reminders or criteria You don't need all these sections for every prompt, but a structured approach gives better results than a wall of text. For more complex tasks, OpenAI's documentation suggests using markdown to separate your sections. They also advise using special formatting characters around code (like backticks, which look like this: `) to help ChatGPT distinguish code from regular text, and using standard numbered or bulleted lists to organize information. Separating information properly affects your results significantly. OpenAI's testing found that XML tags perform exceptionally well with the new models. They let you precisely wrap sections with start and end tags, add metadata to tags, and enable nesting. JSON formatting performs poorly with long contexts (which the new models provide), particularly when providing multiple documents. Instead, try formats like ID: 1 | TITLE: The Fox | CONTENT: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog which OpenAI found worked well in testing. ChatGPT can now function as an "agent" that works more independently on your behalf, tackling complex tasks with minimal supervision. Take your prompts to the next level by building these agents. An AI agent is essentially ChatGPT configured to work through problems autonomously instead of just responding to your questions. It can remember context across a conversation, use tools like web browsing or code execution, and solve multi-step problems. OpenAI recommends including three key reminders in all agent prompts: persistence (keeping going until resolution), tool-calling (using available tools rather than guessing), and planning (thinking before acting). "These three instructions transform the model from a chatbot-like state into a much more 'eager' agent, driving the interaction forward autonomously and independently," the team explains. Their testing showed a 20% performance boost on software engineering tasks with these simple additions. The latest ChatGPT can handle an impressive 1 million token context window. The capabilities are exciting. According to OpenAI, performance remains strong even with thousands of pages of content. However, long context performance degrades when complex reasoning across the entire context is required. For best results with long documents, place your instructions at both the beginning and end of the provided context. Until now, this has been more of a fail safe rather than a required feature of your prompt. When using the new model with extensive context, be explicit about whether it should rely solely on provided information or blend it with its own knowledge. For strictly document-based answers, OpenAI suggests explicitly instructing: "Only use the documents in the provided External Context to answer the User Query." While GPT-4.1 isn't designed as a reasoning model, you can prompt it to show its work just as you could the older models. "Asking the model to think step by step (called 'chain of thought') can be an effective way to break down problems into more manageable pieces," the OpenAI team notes. This comes with higher token usage but delivers better quality. A simple instruction like "First, think carefully step by step about what information or resources are needed to answer the query" can dramatically improve results. This is especially useful when working with uploaded files or when ChatGPT needs to analyze multiple sources of information. OpenAI has shared more extensive information on how to get the most from their latest models. The techniques represent actual training objectives for the models, not just guesswork from the community. By implementing their guidance around prompt structure, delimiting information, agent creation, long context handling, and chain-of-thought prompting, you'll see dramatic improvements in your results. Success with ChatGPT comes from treating it as a thinking partner, not just a text generator. Follow the guidance directly from the source for better results from the same model everyone else is using. Access all my best ChatGPT content prompts.
Bloomberg
03-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Russia Sanctions Hamper Delivery of Moscow's Oil
The country has been able to keep loading crude onto ships, but it's having greater difficulty getting it off again. By Save Welcome to our guide to the energy and commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, Oil Strategist Julian Lee assesses the impact of the latest US sanctions on key Russian flows. Sanctions targeting Russia's oil sector are working, up to a point.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US sanctions strain Russia's oil exports as shipping costs surge, Bloomberg reports
Russia is facing a significant oil transportation crisis due to recent U.S. sanctions, according to Bloomberg oil strategist Julian Lee. On Jan. 10, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 161 oil tankers involved in transporting Russian crude, adding to a series of measures imposed by the Biden administration. These restrictions, which President Donald Trump has yet to relax, have already caused a sharp increase in shipping costs for Russian oil exports. The impact of these sanctions is evident in the rising cost of securing tankers to transport Russia's Urals crude to Asia. Data from Argus Media shows a nearly 50% surge in freight rates since the measures took effect. The difference between the price of Russian oil at export and its delivered price in Asia—an indicator of shipping costs—has also spiked. The number of sanctioned vessels has now reached 265, with U.S. blacklisting proving to be the most disruptive. Of the 435 ships that transported Russian crude in 2024, 112—or 26%—are now under Washington's sanctions, according to Bloomberg. When vessels sanctioned by the EU and U.K. are included, the figure rises to 37%. However, given that 80% of these tankers carried multiple shipments, the affected vessels were responsible for 57% of Russia's total seaborne crude exports last year. This presents a significant logistical hurdle for the Kremlin as it struggles to secure alternative shipping options. The growing restrictions on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" mean the country must find new ways to sustain its oil export volumes. Some sanctioned ships have already encountered delays, either idling near Russian ports or waiting outside Chinese terminals instead of completing deliveries. Others have been used to transfer cargo to larger storage vessels near Russia's coastline. Freight costs have already surged, with the expense of shipping a barrel of Russian crude from the Black Sea to India now at $10, while transport from the Baltic costs as much as $13 per barrel. While these rates are not yet at the peak levels seen after the initial G7 price cap, they have jumped by 48% since Jan. 10. With Russian oil shipments becoming increasingly difficult, the country's ability to maintain its export levels may come under serious strain. If the recent shipping bottlenecks continue to expand, the sanctions could deal a severe blow to Russia's energy trade, exacerbating its economic challenges. Read also: Russian oil sales to China and India stall as sanctions increase costs, Reuters reports We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
