A couple of weeks ago I started diligently working on enabling file uploads to the AI Powered Chatbot for WordPress plugin. I was working in the OpenAI Playground and took note that there was a link to documentation. As I started working on the upload module for the plugin, I found myself needing to consult the documentation on several occasions.
The OpenAI documentation is good, but I had an idea about how to make it better. I thought to myself, hey why isn’t this a Custom GPT? I wasn’t exactly sure how to find out if there was such a thing. Public Custom GPTs were only rolled out by OpenAI in November of 2023.
So, I had an idea.
What if I printed the documentation to a PDF file and created a GPT Assistant in the Playground. So, I did, and it worked. It worked so well that I don’t even look at the online documentation, I just open my GPT Assistant and ask my questions. And, it does a pretty decent job of answering my questions.
It’s better than asking ChatGPT, even GPT-4 Turbo which is a more advanced version of GPT-4 with a knowledge base updated to April 2023. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but it it broad rather than deep. What do I mean by that? ChatGPT has a broad knowledge base and can answer a wide range of questions with a high degree of accuracy. The quality of the prompt – the question you ask ChatGPT – has a lot to do with the answer you’ll get. Ask a better question, get a better answer. That’s “prompt engineering”.
What’s an Assistant?
I asked my OpenAI Assistants Help assistant to explain itself. Let me quote right from my assistant’s results:
An Assistant is a digital buddy powered by advanced AI technology. It works like a software genie that’s really good at following your instructions to complete tasks, such as writing content, answering questions, or sifting through data.
Below is a screen grab of my OpenAI Assistants Help – my digital programming buddy.
On the left.
This is where you set up the Assistant. There is a name, instructions, the model, and four files. The model – gpt-4-1106-preview – is the latest GPT model, sometimes called GPT Turbo and sometimes referred to as GPT-4 Turbo. On the Assistants platform, it’s referred to by its release name.
There are also Tool choices you can make. You can functions, enable code interpreter, or enable retrieval. You can also add files.
I added four PDF. The most important one is the PDF called “OpenAI API Reference.pdf”. That the printed version of the API reference manual. There are the documents with the information I wanted the Assistant to use when answering my questions.
In the middle.
These shows the full results from when I prompted my Assistant explain what it is using easily accessible language that appeals mostly to the general public:
Creating an Assistant using platform.openai.com/assistants is akin to making a specialized helper that can do various tasks for you, much like a personal assistant but in the digital realm.
On the right.
These are the logs from the run. You can see where it created a thread, added a message, queued up the run’s steps, checked the status, and completed the run when it returned the results.
Was there a benefit?
I’ve been able to ask my helper all sorts of questions over the last couple of weeks. I think it compressed the time needed for the programming required to enable file upload for the Chatbot ChatGPT for WordPress plugin. Instead of several weeks spent reading documentation – which I’m loathed to do – I was able to ask the Assistant to generated a skeleton for starters. Then, I worked with the Assistant to program, debug, and test the functionality.
The result was the release of Version 1.7.9 of the AI Powered Chatbot for WordPress plugin with file upload enable.
Final thoughts.
I know it has been a long wait for this functionality. To everyone who requested this feature, thank you for your patience. Now, onto the next release. This will likely include appearance configuration settings – making it easy to change banner, background, font colors and other customizations.
Thank you for joining me on this develop odyssey!
#GPTAssistant, #ChatGPTWordPress, #AIProgramming
About the Author
Stephen Howell is a multifaceted expert with a wealth of experience in technology, business management, and development. He is the innovative mind behind the cutting-edge AI powered Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin. Utilizing the robust capabilities of OpenAI's API, this conversational chatbot can dramatically enhance your website's user engagement. Visit Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress to explore how to elevate your visitors' experience, and stay connected with his latest advancements and offerings in the WordPress community.
