In this lesson, we will explore the Assistant APIs from OpenAI. We will learn about the primary features of the Assistants API, including the Code Interpreter, Knowledge Retrieval, and Function Calling capabilities.
We share a hands-on example to demonstrate the integration of the Code Interpreter with an existing Assistant. The example will show how to enhance an Assistant's ability to provide technical solutions by executing Python code, thus reducing LLM “hallucinations.”
We will also introduce other advanced technologies from OpenAI, such as Whisper, Dalle-3, Speech to Text, and the GPT-4 vision API. These tools are essential for anyone looking to develop sophisticated AI assistants using a variety of APIs.
Then, we will learn how to use the free Hugging Face Inference API to get access to the thousands of models hosted on their platform.
By the end of this lesson, you will have gained a solid understanding of how to apply these technologies in your AI projects effectively.
The OpenAI Assistants API includes three main functionalities: Code Interpreter, Retrieval, and Function Calling.
Code Interpreter: This functionality allows the Assistant to generate and run Python code in a sandboxed execution environment. The Assistant can use Code Interpreter automatically from your conversation or when you upload a file with data.
It's a tool that transforms the LLM into a more accurate computational problem-solver that can handle tasks like solving complex math equations. It can also generate files with data and images of graphs from the same Python code. It's a useful way to trust the output from the assistant and a great tool when analyzing data.
Knowledge Retrieval: This is OpenAI’s own retrieval augmented generation (RAG) system offered as part of the Assistants API. It allows multiple uploads. Once the files are uploaded and passed to the Assistant, OpenAI will automatically chunk your documents, index them, store the embeddings, and implement vector search to retrieve relevant content to answer user queries.
Function Calling: Function calling allows you to describe functions or tools to the Assistant and have it return the functions that need to be called along with their arguments. It's a powerful way to add new capabilities to your Assistant.
You have two distinct pathways depending on your needs and expertise: