The GPT API can use tools now — what are the opportunities?
OpenAI just added "function calling" to its GPT API, meaning that it can now use external code, databases, and other APIs to complete tasks.
So if you're someone who is building an AI product, or integrating AI into an existing product, your product just became a whole lot more powerful. And I'd bet that a lot of opportunities just opened it up for it too.
Who's up for a community brainstorm — what opportunities do y'all see?
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People already have been doing this manually by providing a "schema" in a prompt to get an output in a specific format. Now OpenAI made it as a part of their API.
Being an API it's still not as reliable as many people might think. As a developer you still have to verify the output and handle cases when a GPT can't return what you expect.
TL;DR - it changes nothing. All those capabilities have been available since day 1 and OpenAI made them a little bit more convenient.
This thing can still hallucinate tools too. It frequently want's to execute python code even though it wasn't provided in the prompt!
Fair points, but my understanding is that it's a lotta bit more convenient. Frankensteining vs going native. And this is just v1.0 of the feature, so I bet it'll get more streamlined.
As a content marketer and copywriter, chat GPT is very useful in improving my work productivity.
For sure! Any idea how you can leverage this new feature?
First case and not a small one is that you don't have to trick GPT to render a schema that could give you a random result.
For example, I have to tell it "Please provide the information in the specified order, separated by a vertical bar (|)." Sometimes, the API makes an error and destroys the flow of my application.
Function calling is instant improved stabilty for my app.
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It's a double edge sword. Powerful AI has become very accessible so IH can spin up apps quick, but also knock off other apps just a quick and it becomes a "Race to the bottom" without much differentiation on price and features. Plus existing incumbents can easily augment what they have making it harder for an IH to impact market share. That said, lots of opportunities/possibilities
Good point, if everyone can do it, then it's no longer special. It will then be a battle of better marketing messages and offers, but ultimately will have the same function.
That's a really good point. Sort of a tragedy-of-the-commons situation.
very useful
Seems like it's going to be easy to build 'general purpose' automations really soon which is super exciting. There's already been a massive wave of this thanks to LangChain (see their example on Sales Assistants) and this adds even more potential to the pile.
I guess the question is how much of an improvement this actually is on Langchain.
And also, how will Langchain respond?
The benefit of LangChain is that it can be model-agnostic, which is going to come in handy when open-source models catch up or models move towards niche use cases.
General purpose automation is closer than it seems - check out Nekton.ai , it's using GPT4 to write automations based on plain text description and it will run it for you in the cloud.
I wish I could use an AI browser assistant that can search for specific info on the page, leave comments and even analyze data
https://github.com/TaxyAI/browser-extension - not mine, also doesn't work well yet, but it's basically what you are looking for.
That'd be killer. Wonder what tools would you'd have to use for that?
This undoubtedly has the potential to streamline a plethora of applications but isn't there a concerning side to allowing an AI such unrestrained access to databases and APIs?
You wouldn't give it unconstrained access... it would be appropriately scoped as if it were the current user performing the task.
But I do imagine that inexperienced developers will implement unsafe things...
What do you find concerning about it? I don't disagree, but interested to hear what specifically you're referring to.
I was thinking abouts scenarios where the AI initiates a multitude of requests to a service that charges per usage. This could unintentionally rack up a significant bill.
Or AI sending a large number of requests to server endpoints in a short span of time, strain on the servers like a DDoS would.
And finally shoutout to Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley if you watched it - GPT interacting inadvertently sending commands to IoT devices such as smart fridges.
Paranoia aside, functions will add a ton of value heeh
Hah, yeah, fair points. Folks will have to be very choosey about what tools they use. Or perhaps there's a way to put limits on what GPT can do with function calling (number of calls, etc.)
I'm excited about it just from a productivity standpoint. Integrating GPT with Zapier? 🔥
So an app for personal use? That's cool. If it works, you could maybe even dogfood it!
The article you linked is right – agents are going to be so much easier to build now.
RIP Langchain
I have a chatbot app,but no sure "function calling" can do anything for my user
I haven't tried it yet, but soon.
So far I'm trying to translate user input into code, maybe with this I can shorten the flow even more, in my case to do data preprocessing.
The GPT API's newfound ability to utilize tools presents an array of possibilities, and the examples provided are merely a glimpse into its potential. As businesses and developers delve deeper into exploring this technology, we can anticipate a wave of groundbreaking applications that will push the boundaries of innovation in the years ahead.
I am using GPT as my productivity booster tool.
The GPT is super useful for me, it is full of opportunities.
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How to get people to participate in AI entrepreneurship without code is something I'm thinking about.
I think AI is already making entrepreneurship easier for non-coders, no?
There are a lot of no-code or low-code apps now and AI has certainly made creating a business that much simpler.
What kind of things do you want to help people build? Curious to know :)