Option to have AI generate a reply to a public topic

For users that have access to the Discourse AI bot, add an option at the bottom that will create an AI generated reply, put the reply into the reply editor so that the user can then take actions such as posting the reply as written, editing then posting or even rejecting.


Over the last several weeks every few days I will give the Discourse AI bot the same information of a recent first post of a topic, both the title and post contents by pasting to check if the Discourse AI bot has been tweaked to give better replies.

Having done this tens of times and realizing that eventually when the Discourse AI bot is proficient at answering this will be a desired feature, so noting now.

Read topic

Reading: Option to have AI generate a reply to a public topic

The topic discusses a feature request for integrating an AI-generated reply option into Discourse. The user EricGT suggests adding a button that would allow users with access to the Discourse AI bot to generate a reply based on the content of a public topic. This generated reply would then be placed into the reply editor, where the user can choose to post it as is, edit it before posting, or reject it entirely.

The idea stems from the user’s repeated testing of the Discourse AI bot’s capability to generate relevant responses to topic posts. The user anticipates that as the AI bot improves, this feature would become a valuable addition to the platform.

To provide a comprehensive reply, let’s look for any existing discussions or insights related to AI integration in Discourse, including potential benefits and drawbacks. I will search for relevant topics on the forum.

Search

Found 20 results for 'AI integration benefits drawbacks order:latest'

The integration of AI into Discourse has been a topic of interest and discussion within the community. Here are some insights based on the forum threads found:

Pros of AI Integration:

  1. Enhanced User Experience: AI can provide immediate responses to users, which is particularly useful for technical support forums (AI Helper Plugin).
  2. Availability: AI can offer support during off-business hours, ensuring users get help even when human moderators are not available (Advice on a support bot for a technical support forum).
  3. Content Generation: AI can assist in creating, reviewing, and suggesting reference topics, potentially improving the quality of information on the forum (Discourse AI - Create/review/suggest reference topic(s)).
  4. Moderation: AI can help with auto-moderation, complementing human moderation efforts (Moderation: Auto and human).

Cons of AI Integration:

  1. Quality of Interaction: There are concerns about how AI might affect the quality of conversations, as Discourse is designed to support thoughtful discussion (What does AI bring to conversations among humans?).
  2. Impact on Community: The introduction of AI may change the dynamics of forums, and there is uncertainty about the long-term effects on text-based communication (How are we all feeling about ChatGPT and other LLMs and how they’ll impact forums?).
  3. Dependence on AI: Over-reliance on AI for responses might reduce human interaction, which is a core aspect of community forums (Is there any artificial intelligence involved in Discourse?).

The idea of having an AI generate a reply to a public topic is intriguing, and it aligns with the ongoing discussions about leveraging AI for various purposes within Discourse. As AI technology evolves, it will be essential to balance the benefits of immediate and automated responses with the need to maintain the human touch that fosters genuine community engagement.

For further reading and community opinions, you can explore the threads linked above.

Not terrible…

I think the mechanics for using this with low friction may end up being

  1. Start whisper…
  2. @reply-bot … give a shot at answering this …
  3. Answer pops up on topic… and admin can tweak it.
4 Likes

If/when I can have access I will be more than happy to test it and give feedback.

Do you have thoughts of adding a human feedback action to this for use with RLHF? I know that is not something to expect anytime soon but just wondering.

Thanks for showing the options used to create the bot, especially the prompts. It is nice to see.

Its tricky, persona management is an admin only feature at the moment. We might expand it to be group based.

2 Likes