Instruction Following

Instruction following refers to a model's ability to precisely adhere to explicit directives in the prompt — respecting stated constraints like word limits, format requirements, topic scope, tone, and output structure. Strong instruction following is a core product-quality dimension distinct from factual accuracy: a model can be factually correct yet fail to follow instructions by producing the wrong format or ignoring a stated constraint. IFEval and similar benchmarks measure this capability systematically.