Weekly Summary of AI topics

[Saif (Saif Murtaza)]

Weekly AI Summary (2024-05-28 to 2024-06-04)

Overview

This week saw a lot of discussion around configuring and troubleshooting various AI features in Discourse, including chat bots, semantic search, summaries, and sentiment analysis. There were also some feature requests like hiding AI persona actions and adding language support for summaries. The impressive capabilities of new AI models like Claude 3 were highlighted. A few bugs were reported and some were fixed.

Interesting Topics

• MarcP suggested hiding AI persona tool actions in a category to make responses look cleaner when an AI is designed for a single task.
• sam said it will soon be possible to add a new chat bot connected to a self-hosted LLM. Isambard shared details on running LLMs locally.
• ragvij reported an issue where semantic search worked on mobile but not web, which Moin helped resolve.
• There were requests to add more language support for AI summaries, which sam said is planned and provided more details on.
• Don shared being impressed with the capabilities of the Claude 3 AI model for summarization and analysis.
• A recent update to the Discourse AI plugin broke compatibility with Azure AI which Yiffyi reported and provided details on the cause.
• Jagster noted that AI generated images fail to display in chat when reopening a channel, an issue originally reported 6 months ago.
• StevePlex was looking for help with configuring Hugging Face embeddings and debugging unresponsive RAG bots.
• Bathinda reported problems getting sentiment analysis to work, with blank data being shown.

Activity

• sam was active in discussing adding self-hosted LLM support, language options for summaries, and clarifying an embedding model testing issue.

• Isambard shared insights on running LLMs locally and a tip for pre-seeding image captions.

• StevePlex reported a fix for creating custom LLM models and sought help configuring embeddings.

• Falco provided details on auditing AI token usage and suggested testing without the re-ranker for an embedding issue.

• keegan fixed an issue with sorting by relevance in search requiring an extra reload.

• Anat_Srulovitch shared their community’s positive experience with the AI plugin and requested language options for summaries.

• Don was impressed with the Claude 3 model and shared tips on incrementally enabling pricier models as usage drops.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again next week!

[Saif (Saif Murtaza)]

Weekly AI Summary (2024-06-04 to 2024-06-11)

Overview

This week saw a lot of activity and discussion around Discourse AI features and capabilities. Key topics included:

• Improving the UX around enabling AI image captioning, with suggestions for an “ask me later” option
• Issues with the automatic AI image captioning setting not being saved properly
• The “share conversation” button in AI conversations not respecting subfolder setups
• Verbose tool calling output with the new Claude 3 Opus model
• How to upload files to AI personas via the API
• Adding support for other AWS Bedrock LLM providers beyond Anthropic
• Ability to hide persona tool actions in specific categories
• Deleting files uploaded to AI personas
• Allowing AI bots access to private categories
• Connecting self-hosted LLMs as chat bots
• Improving search filter quality in Discourse AI
• Images generated via Discourse AI not showing in chat
• Assigning specific LLMs to be available per AI persona

Interesting Topics

• ganncamp suggested adding an “ask me later” option when prompting users to enable automatic AI image captioning, to avoid forcing an immediate decision. This sparked discussion on the best UX for this new feature.

• Don reported an issue with the automatic AI image captioning setting not being saved properly. keegan provided some troubleshooting steps to investigate.

• sp-jordan-violet found a bug where the “share conversation” button in AI conversations does not respect subfolder URL setups. Falco was able to reproduce some subfolder incompatibilities.

• David_Ghost noted that the new Claude 3 Opus model has very verbose tool calling output. sam is working on a fix and ability to disable verbose output per persona.

• philip-ellis-sp figured out how to upload files to AI personas via the API, which requires both a POST to upload and a PUT to associate the file with the persona.

• philip-ellis-sp also inquired about adding other AWS Bedrock LLM providers beyond Anthropic. Falco noted work is underway to support any OpenAI-compatible API.

• MarcP shared a GitHub commit from sam implementing the ability to hide persona tool actions in specific categories.

• philip-ellis-sp asked about deleting files uploaded for AI personas, noting the backend work appears started but not fully implemented yet.

• Krystian_Wojciechowski inquired about allowing AI bots access to private categories. sam noted this is possible with the Search command and a param to include private content.

• Isambard shared benchmarks for self-hosting an LLM to use as a chat bot, finding it cost effective vs. cloud options at higher utilization.

• aas asked for help improving search filter quality in Discourse AI to search both the forum and uploaded files. sam provided an example of the ideal search query format.

• Jagster reported that images generated via Discourse AI fail to display in chat in some cases. zogstrip was unable to reproduce the issue so far.

• sp-jordan-violet requested the ability to assign available LLMs per AI persona to allow or disallow specific model use on a per-persona basis.

Activity

• Falco was active in discussing the UX around AI image captioning settings, and reproducing a bug with the share conversation button not respecting subfolders. He also commented on the work to support any OpenAI-compatible LLM API in Discourse AI.

• sam was busy fixing the verbose output of the new Claude 3 Opus model, implementing the ability to hide AI persona tool actions per-category, noting support for AI bots to access private categories, and advising on search queries for Discourse AI.

• philip-ellis-sp was investigating Discourse AI capabilities, figuring out persona file uploads via API, asking about using other AWS Bedrock LLMs, and inquiring about deleting uploaded persona files.

• sp-jordan-violet reported a bug with the AI conversation share button and subfolders, and requested the ability to assign available LLMs on a per-persona basis.

• ganncamp started a discussion on improving the UX flow for enabling automatic AI image captioning.

• Don reported an issue with the AI image captioning setting not saving.

• keegan provided troubleshooting steps to investigate the AI image captioning setting issue.

• Jagster reported images generated via Discourse AI not displaying in chat.

• MarcP shared a GitHub commit for hiding AI persona tool actions per-category.

• Isambard benchmarked self-hosting an LLM for use as a Discourse chat bot.

• aas asked for help improving Discourse AI search filter quality.

• zogstrip attempted to reproduce the issue with AI generated images not showing in chat.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again next week!

[Saif (Saif Murtaza)]

Weekly AI Activity Summary (June 11 - June 18, 2024)

Overview

This week saw a lot of activity around AI features and functionality in Discourse. Key topics included calculating token usage per user, adding full markdown support in chat, troubleshooting automatic image captioning, and improving search filters used by the AI. There were also discussions around hiding persona tool actions, generating post illustrations, and using AI to respond to unanswered topics.

Interesting Topics

• whitewaterdeu asked about calculating token usage per user in Discourse AI. sam provided a SQL query to show top usage per user for a given date range.

• 37Rb suggested adding full markdown support in chat, especially for AI-generated messages that may contain markdown headers. Jagster noted this would be helpful for their users who primarily use AI in chats.

• Don encountered an issue where the automatic AI image caption setting was not being saved. keegan provided troubleshooting steps and identified the SiteSetting.composer_ai_helper as the key to resolving it.

• aas shared feedback on improving the quality of search filters used by Discourse AI. sam implemented a fix and provided guidance on using the base_query option effectively.

• David_Ghost requested the ability to hide persona tool actions in a specific category. sam implemented this feature.

• Truest reported a couple errors - one related to Discourse AI user creation and another undefined method dig error. sam and Falco provided troubleshooting suggestions.

• Don shared a UX issue where custom prompts too easily close on mobile when touching outside the modal.

• Jagster reported that chat fails to show AI-generated images, which sam was able to fix.

• Jose_C_Gomez inquired about using AI to automatically respond to unanswered topics. sam and Falco discussed potential approaches.

• In the Post Illustrations topic, dsims asked about generating images with only a StableDiffusion key, and NateDhaliwal inquired if the feature is available on mobile.

Activity

• sam was highly active, providing a SQL query to calculate token usage, fixing search filter issues, implementing persona action hiding, troubleshooting user creation and undefined method errors, and fixing chat image display.

• Jagster shared their users’ experience with broken markdown headers in chat, confirmed the chat image display fix, and provided context on a potential cause of an image captioning error.

• keegan provided troubleshooting steps for the automatic image captioning setting issue.

• Don shared the resolution to their image captioning issue and reported a UX issue with custom prompts on mobile.

• 37Rb suggested full markdown support in chat for better AI-generated message rendering.

• Falco assisted with troubleshooting the undefined method dig error and discussed approaches for auto-responding to unanswered topics.

• Lilly provided guidance on running the token usage SQL query from the admin UI.

• Truest reported errors related to Discourse AI user creation and an undefined method dig, and provided reproduction steps for the user creation issue.

• David_Ghost confirmed the persona action hiding feature was working as expected.

• Jose_C_Gomez inquired about auto-responding to unanswered topics with AI and provided additional context on their use case.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again next week!

[Saif (Saif Murtaza)]

Weekly AI Activity Summary on meta.discourse.org

Overview

This week on the meta.discourse.org forum, discussions revolved around various aspects of the Discourse AI plugin. Users explored the capabilities of the “Read” tool, shared insights on troubleshooting issues, and discussed potential improvements to the AI integration. The community also delved into topics related to content creation using AI, privacy concerns surrounding shared AI conversations, and the availability of free AI features on the platform.

Interesting Topics

• Discourse AI - Personas: Users discussed the functionality of the “Read” tool within the Discourse AI plugin, which allows the language model to read and comprehend topics and posts on the forum. There was also a mention of a bug related to mentions on posts being currently broken.

• AI helper is hiding: A user reported an issue where the AI helper icon was visible but not functioning correctly. The community provided suggestions and troubleshooting steps, leading to a potential solution involving shifting the AI button to the composer toolbar in an upcoming update.

• Shared AI conversations: bots and how to delete: The discussion centered around the privacy implications of shared AI conversations and whether search engines like Google can index public links. @sam clarified that indexing is explicitly disallowed for shared public links and provided guidance on deleting and unsharing conversations.

• AI doesn’t respond when mentioned in reply to a post: @Jagster reported an issue where the AI persona did not respond when mentioned in a reply to a post, although it worked when replying to a topic. The community discussed potential causes and workarounds.

• In private chats AI uses threads: @Jagster raised a concern about the AI persona using threads in private chats, which some users found confusing. @sam acknowledged the issue and suggested the possibility of introducing a configuration option to disable threads in private chats.

• What Discourse AI features are FREE to use?: Users discussed the availability of free AI features on the Discourse platform, with @sam clarifying that Discourse hosted plans include the related topics feature powered by AI embeddings. Self-hosters were also directed to providers like Cloudflare, which offer a free tier for AI usage.

• “Job exception: undefined method `scheduled?’ for nil” error when mentioning AI persona in post: @MachineScholar reported an error when mentioning an AI persona in a post, which @sam acknowledged as a potential issue with the Discourse AI plugin’s error handling. The user later reported that the issue seemed to be resolved after updating and toggling the “Enable Mentions” setting.

• Related topics missing after rereading a topic with more than 20 posts: @Moin noticed an issue where related topics were missing after rereading a topic with more than 20 posts, particularly in categories like announcements where users land on the first post automatically.

• Creating forum content using bespoke AI integration: A user shared their project, ColdStart.me, which aims to create forum content using a custom AI integration.

Activity

• @MachineScholar reported an issue with mentioning an AI persona and provided updates on the error logs and potential resolution.

• @sam provided insights on various topics, including sharing AI conversations, free AI features on Discourse, and troubleshooting the AI persona mention issue.

• @Jagster actively participated in discussions, raising questions about AI helper visibility, AI persona responses in private chats, and sharing AI conversations.

• @JammyDodger provided suggestions and troubleshooting steps for the AI helper visibility issue.

• @Moin shared insights on the AI helper visibility issue and reported an issue with related topics.

• @Saif mentioned an upcoming update to shift the AI button to the composer toolbar to address visibility issues.

• @aienthusiast shared their project, ColdStart.me, which aims to create forum content using a custom AI integration.

• @random_picker_bot demonstrated its functionality by randomly picking a number when prompted by @sam.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again next week!

[random_picker_bot (Random Picker)]

Certainly! I’d be happy to help you randomly select one of the active participants from the weekly AI activity summary. Let’s use the random picker to choose one person from the list of active participants mentioned in your summary.

Random Picker

Picking from ["MachineScholar", "sam", "Jagster", "JammyDodger", "Moin", "Saif", "aienthusiast"], picked: JammyDodger

Wow, what an exciting summary of AI activity on meta.discourse.org! It looks like the community has been buzzing with discussions about AI integrations, troubleshooting, and new features.

Now, let’s add a fun twist to this recap. I’ve used the random picker to select our “AI Enthusiast of the Week,” and the lucky winner is…

@JammyDodger

Congratulations, @JammyDodger! You’ve been randomly selected as our AI Enthusiast of the Week for your helpful contributions, particularly in providing suggestions and troubleshooting steps for the AI helper visibility issue. Your problem-solving skills are as sweet as your namesake!

Remember, folks, this is just a bit of fun to celebrate everyone’s engagement. Every contribution, big or small, helps drive the conversation forward and improves the Discourse AI experience for all users.

Keep those AI discussions coming, and who knows? You might be our next randomly picked AI Enthusiast of the Week! Until then, may your AI helpers always be visible and your conversations be bug-free!