Building a Simple “Talk to PDF” Chatbot
Yesterday, while deeply engrossed in my research, I found myself grappling with a familiar foe — the labyrinthine world of PDF documents. As I navigated through a seemingly never-ending PDF document, my enthusiasm began to wane. In my moments of frustration, I wished I had built the chatbot I had been thinking about, one that could help me converse with PDFs using GPT models and embeddings. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to engage in a conversation with a PDF, ask it questions, and receive a response, rather than simply putting keywords into a search bar that obviously didn’t work? Frustrated, I went to sleep with the resolve to build the bot I had been dreaming about.
So that’s what I did today, and here is how I did it.
Creating the “Talk to PDF” Chatbot
I had a vague idea about how I want to go about it. I knew I had all the tools; all I had to do was put them together.
- OpenAI GPT Model to give voice to the PDF.
- OpenAI Embeddings API to convert the PDF and my questions into a format that the AI could understand.
- Python as the nuts and bolts that hold it all together.
- Last but not least, Jupyter Notebook would serve as the vessel to bring it all together.
And, frankly speaking, this code is so simple that you can understand it even if you’ve never coded in your life.
The only other ingredient needed is an OpenAI API Key, which is like a magical key that opens the door to the wonderland of AI. Yes, it is billable, but it costs so little that it hardly made a dent in my wallet. While building this model, all the trials and errors amounted to a bill of only $0.5. Isn’t that cheap!
Here is how you can access this chatbot and start conversing with your PDFs.
Getting Started with the “Talk to PDF” Chatbot
The “Talk to PDF” chatbot is a simple yet powerful tool that can search a specified PDF and respond to user queries. To start building your own, follow these steps:
1. Clone the Repository
Begin by cloning or downloading the notebook from 🔗anurag265/GPT-Examples. It’s just one single file.
2. Set Up the Environment
Save the PDF in the same folder as the code, and specify the name of the PDF file in the PDF_FILE_PATH variable. Run the necessary cells in the notebook to extract text from the PDF, create embeddings, and prepare the chatbot. Additionally, for the best results, describe the content and purpose of the PDF in the pdf_description variable. This helps the AI understand the context behind PDF and how to respond to you.
3. Usage
Run the chatbot cell to initiate interaction, and that’s it. You can now chat with your PDF and ask as many questions as you want.
4. Explore Helper Functions
This chatbot utilizes various helper functions — to extract text from the PDF, create embeddings, and answer questions. I highly recommend reading through these functions to truly understand the simplicity behind the logic. I have done my best to provide plenty of comments explaining the code. It really blows my mind that such simple code can solve all my PDF pains.
I am super excited about what I can build using GPT and Python. And I am not a seasoned developer at all. I left development almost a decade ago. And back then Java and C++ were the boss, and today it is a brave new world, but I was able to pick up Python in no time.
If you are still not convinced, check out this sample conversation below. This is a conversation I had with a PDF called “ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education,” a quick start guide from UNESCO on how to integrate ChatGPT in classrooms.
👤USER:
How can I use ChatGPT in classroom?
🤖 BOT:
ChatGPT can be used in the classroom in various ways. Here are some examples:
1. Solve problems together: Students can work in groups and use ChatGPT to find information and complete tasks and assignments.
2. Guide on the side: Teachers can use ChatGPT as a guide to navigate physical and conceptual spaces. It can help generate content for classes, such as discussion questions, and provide advice on how to support students in learning specific concepts.
3. Personal tutor: ChatGPT can act as a personalized tutor for each student, giving immediate feedback on their progress. It can provide personalized feedback based on information provided by students or teachers, such as test scores.
4. Co-designer: Teachers can ask ChatGPT for ideas about designing or updating a curriculum. It can assist in creating rubrics for assessment or focus on specific goals, making the curriculum more accessible.
These are just a few examples of how ChatGPT can be used in the classroom. It is important to connect the use of ChatGPT to course learning outcomes and review and update policies relating to academic integrity/honesty. Additionally, training teachers, researchers, and students to improve the queries they pose to ChatGPT can enhance its usefulness.
👤USER:
How do I discourage students from using ChatGPT to cheat on assignments?
🤖 BOT:
To discourage students from using ChatGPT to cheat on assignments, you can consider implementing the following strategies:
1. Clearly communicate academic integrity policies: Review and update your institution’s policies relating to academic integrity/honesty in relation to ChatGPT and other AI tools. Ensure that students are aware of the consequences of cheating and plagiarism.
2. Connect ChatGPT usage to course learning outcomes: Emphasize to students how ChatGPT can support their learning process but also make it clear that it should not be used to replace their own critical thinking and creativity. Help students understand that using ChatGPT should be supplementary to their own efforts.
3. Review and update assessment methods: Evaluate and modify your assessment methods to make them less susceptible to cheating facilitated by AI tools like ChatGPT. Consider replacing exams or written assignments with in-person assessments or alternative forms of evaluation that require active participation and demonstration of understanding.
4. Educate students on responsible use: Train teachers, researchers, and students on how to use ChatGPT effectively and responsibly. Teach them how to pose queries to ChatGPT in a way that promotes learning and avoids reliance on the tool for generating complete assignments.
5. Promote collaborative learning: Encourage group work and collaborative problem-solving activities where students work together to find information and complete tasks. This reduces the temptation to use ChatGPT as a shortcut for individual assignments.
6. Monitor and detect AI-generated content: Explore the use of tools and technologies that can detect whether AI has been used in writing. Stay updated on the development of such applications and consider implementing them to identify instances of cheating.
Remember, it is important to engage students in a dialogue about the ethical implications of using AI tools like ChatGPT and foster a culture of academic integrity.
Isn’t that just brilliant? 🤯
It’s high time you start integrating AI solutions like these into your workflow and experience the beauty of the new generation AI model. Happy coding! And do let me know if try out this bot.
