Having experimented with ChatGPT for a while, I can attest to its astounding capabilities. There’s no shortage of cynics who either trivialize its potential or dread its implications on the economy, even forecasting a doomsday scenario where it takes over the world. In my experience, however, it’s a versatile learning tool of unparalleled potency.
From quick crash courses on any given topic, to assistance with code writing, grammar checks, and even drafting Instagram posts that require a profound quote from a renowned Puritan, ChatGPT has become my Swiss Army knife.
This multifunctionality prompted me to explore its capabilities further. I envisaged a chatbot that would interact with users as John Owen, the famed English theologian. Not having any prior experience in chatbot development, this was set to be a thrilling experiment — I planned to have ChatGPT guide me through the entire process, step by step, helping me troubleshoot any hurdles along the way.
I proposed the idea to GPT4 and, six hours later, the John Owen Chatbot was born.
Here’s a snapshot of the stages that ChatGPT guided me through:
- Installing Node.js on my laptop.
- Setting up an account with OpenAI to gain access to the API.
- Writing a node.js script to call upon the OpenAI API.
- Creating a minimalist website to manage the chat interactions.
- Crafting a ChatGPT Prompt to instruct ChatGPT to emulate John Owen.
- Publishing the app on Heroku.
Granted, I wasn’t a complete novice, as I already had a background in web development. However, I was a newcomer to Node.js, the OpenAI API, and Heroku. Although the coding guidance from ChatGPT for the OpenAI API was slightly outdated — a little independent research was required — the overall journey was smooth. Essentially, ChatGPT empowered me to build a chatbot from scratch in less than a day.