Using ChatGPT in Arabic: settings and ready-made work prompts

ChatGPT in Arabic needs no special version: Arabic is on OpenAI's list of supported languages [1], and you can switch the interface, voice input and standing instructions to Arabic in a few minutes. Results improve most when you say which Arabic you want, fix right-to-left formatting and check every figure.

This guide covers the settings, as described in OpenAI's help centre on 14 October 2026, how to ask for formal Arabic or Saudi dialect, right-to-left fixes, translation, and 15 ready-made prompts for Arabic work tasks. Menus and labels change from time to time, so follow the current wording on your screen. O AI is not affiliated with OpenAI or any other company named here.

What is ChatGPT, and how well does it handle Arabic?

ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational assistant. It answers questions, drafts and rewrites text, summarises uploaded documents and translates between languages [2]. There is no separate Arabic edition: the same ChatGPT works in Arabic once you write to it in Arabic or change its settings.

Arabic is one of the 59 languages on OpenAI's list of supported languages for ChatGPT [1]. When you open ChatGPT in a browser or on a phone, it detects the device language and switches its interface to match, if that language is supported [1].

Two cautions before you rely on it:

• Supported does not mean always right. OpenAI warns that ChatGPT can produce incorrect facts and dates, invent quotes and references, and sound confident while wrong [8]. Arabic output needs the same checking as English, and sometimes more.
• Check the app you install. App stores carry third-party apps with "ChatGPT Arabic" in their names. Before you install or pay, check that the developer shown is OpenAI.

Five settings for using ChatGPT in Arabic

These are the settings that matter most for Arabic work, with the paths OpenAI documents for the web version.

On the mobile app, the language setting sits under the profile icon at the bottom of the sidebar, in the App section, and it can only be changed while you are signed in [1].

Keep one point in mind: the interface language changes the menus, not the language of the answers. If you want every answer in Arabic, say so in your custom instructions or at the end of each prompt.

Custom instructions for Saudi business Arabic: text you can paste

Custom instructions apply to every chat as soon as you save them. Free and Go users can save up to 1,500 characters, and Plus, Pro and business plans up to 5,000 [4]. The text below fits within the lower limit. Paste it into the custom instructions field and edit it to suit your company.

Reply in Modern Standard Arabic suited to Saudi business correspondence, unless I ask for Saudi dialect. Use Western digits, the Gregorian date, and SAR for money. Add a Hijri date only when I give it to you. Keep company names, product names and technical terms in English letters when I write them that way. Use Arabic punctuation. Prefer short sentences and plain words, and avoid literal translations of English idioms. When I paste a document, never change names, numbers or dates. If you are not sure of a fact, say so instead of guessing.

Why each line is there:

• "Unless I ask for Saudi dialect" sets formal Arabic as the default and lets you switch per task.
• Western digits, Gregorian dates and SAR keep the output consistent with most Saudi business systems. Change them if your company writes Eastern Arabic numerals or uses the Hijri date first.
• "Add a Hijri date only when I give it" stops the model converting dates itself. Date conversion is exactly the kind of fact you should not leave to a language model unchecked.
• "Never change names, numbers or dates" protects the details that matter most in a letter or an invoice.

Memory adds a second layer. When Memory is on, ChatGPT can remember preferences from your chats, and you can ask it what it remembers, correct an item or delete it [5]. Telling it once that "letters to government entities are always in formal Arabic" saves repeating it.

Formal Arabic or Saudi dialect: which register for which task?

Most work writing in Saudi Arabia is in formal Arabic, but customer messages are often in dialect. ChatGPT generally follows the register you name, so state it in the prompt.

"Saudi dialect" covers several regional varieties. If it matters, name the region you write for, such as Najdi, Hijazi or the Eastern Province, and give a sample message in that style.

Voice is less predictable than text. OpenAI notes that audio understanding and transcription performance may vary across languages [2], and suggests setting your voice language in Settings > Voice > Language when ChatGPT detects the wrong one [3]. Test a few voice notes in your own dialect before relying on dictation for customer work.

Right-to-left problems and how to fix them

Most "broken Arabic" complaints are not ChatGPT errors but text-direction problems that appear when you paste into Word, email or a company system. The W3C, which maintains web standards, explains the cause: Arabic letters run right to left, numbers run left to right inside Arabic text, and spaces and punctuation are neutral, so at a boundary between Arabic and English they take the direction of the paragraph. When the paragraph direction is wrong, a full stop or question mark ends up on the wrong side [6].

One prompt prevents most of these problems: ask ChatGPT to "return plain text, one item per line, no Markdown, no tables", then format the text in the destination program.

ChatGPT translation between Arabic and English

ChatGPT can translate between Arabic and English inside any chat [2]. OpenAI also runs ChatGPT Translate, a dedicated page that lists more than 40 languages, Arabic among them, with one-click options to make a translation more fluent or more professional [7]. The page notes that chats there may be reviewed and used to improve OpenAI's models [7], so do not paste confidential text into it.

A translation that reads natively needs more than a "translate this" prompt:

1. Name the reader. "For a Saudi procurement manager" produces different Arabic from "for a general audience".
2. Give a glossary. List the terms your company always translates one way, and the ones that stay in English.
3. Lock the details. Ask for names, figures and dates to be kept exactly as in the original.
4. Ask for a list of doubts. "After the translation, list any sentence whose meaning was ambiguous."
5. Back-translate the important parts. Ask a separate chat to translate the Arabic back into English and compare it with the original.
6. Have a person review. For contracts and anything submitted to an authority, a qualified translator should check the final text.

ChatGPT can read an uploaded PDF, but scanned Arabic pages are a separate problem: the text has to be recognised before it can be translated. Our Arabic OCR workflow explains how to check numbers and dates from scanned documents.

15 ready-made prompts for ChatGPT in Arabic

These prompts are written in English for staff who work in English but need Arabic output. Replace the [brackets] and paste your text where indicated.

If your team answers many customer messages in dialect every day, a single chat window will not scale. Our guide to WhatsApp chatbots for business covers what an assistant can answer and when to hand over to a person.

What not to paste, and the privacy settings to check

Arabic or English, the same data rules apply. Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law treats a name, an ID number, addresses, contact numbers, bank and card numbers and photos as personal data, and it restricts transferring personal data outside the Kingdom [11]. Our guide to data residency in Saudi Arabia explains the conditions. This section is general information; for a specific case, check SDAIA's guidance or ask a licensed advisor.

The settings that control what happens to your chats:

• Model training. On personal plans, turn off "Improve the model for everyone" in Settings > Data controls, and your new conversations will not be used to train OpenAI's models; they still appear in your history [9]. If you rate an answer with a thumbs up or down, OpenAI may still use that whole conversation for training on individual plans [10].
• Temporary chat. A temporary chat does not appear in your history, does not create memories and is not used to improve the models, though OpenAI may keep it for up to 30 days for safety [9].
• Business plans. OpenAI does not use content from ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu to train its models by default [10]. Its enterprise privacy commitments add SAML single sign-on and state that the customer owns its inputs and outputs, where the law allows [12].

The practical rule: replace names and ID numbers with labels before you paste, and keep company documents in a business account, not a personal one.

Your next step

Today, set the five settings above, paste the custom instruction and adjust it to your company's style. Then take one real Arabic task from this week, remove the personal data, and run it through three of the prompts. Note how many edits each answer needed before it could be sent, and keep the prompt that needed the fewest. If you later need ChatGPT-style answers connected to your own systems in Arabic, that is a software project; you can read about O AI, a software and AI company in Al Khobar, on our home page.