Virtually anything we can do with AI today might have seemed like magic just a year ago, but MindStudio's platform for creating custom AI applications in a matter of minutes feels like a new level of alchemy.
The free six-month platform, which you can find right now at youai.ai, is a visual studio for creating AI workflows, AI assistants, and AI chatbots. In its short lifespan it has already been used, according to CEO Dimitry Shapiro, to create more than 18,000 applications.
Yes, he called them “apps”, and if you're having a hard time understanding how or why someone might want to create AI apps, just look at OpenAI's relatively new GPT Apps (aka GPT). These allow you to lock the powerful GPT-3.5 into topic-based thinking that you can package, share, and sell. Shapiro, however, pointed out the limits of OpenAI's approach.
He compared GPTs to “marking a message” within the GPT sphere. MindStudio, on the other hand, is independent of the generative model. The system allows you to use multiple models within a single application.
If adding more model options sounds complicated, I can assure you that it is not. MindStudio is the AI development platform for non-developers.
Watch and learn
To get started, the company offers an easy-to-follow 18-minute video tutorial. The system also helps by offering a healthy collection of templates (many of them business-focused), or you can choose a blank template. I followed the guide to recreate the AI demo app (a blog post generator) and my only criticism is that the video is a little outdated and some interface elements have been moved or renamed. There are some indications to notice the changes, but the video could still be updated.
Still, I had no problems creating the first AI blog builder. The key here is that you can do much of the work through a visual interface that allows you to add blocks throughout a workflow and then click on them to customize them, add details, and choose which AI model you want to use ( the list includes GPT- 3.5 turbo, PaLM 2, Llama 2 and Gemini Pro). While you don't necessarily have to use a particular model for every task in your application, it could be that, for example, you should use GPT-3.5 for fast chatbots or that PaLM would be better for mathematics; However, MindStudio cannot, at least not yet, recommend which model to use and when.
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The act of adding training data is also simple. I was able to find web pages with information, download the HTML and upload it to MindStudio (you can upload up to 150 files in a single application). MindStudio uses the information to inform the AI, but it won't cut and paste information from any of those pages into your app's responses.
Most of MindStudio's customers are in business and it hides some more powerful features (built into third-party websites) and models (like GPT 4 Turbo) behind a paywall, but anyone can try creating and sharing AI apps (you get a URL to share).
Confident in my newly acquired, albeit limited, knowledge, I set out to create an AI app centered around mobile photography tips. Of course, I used the framework I had just learned in the AI blog post generator tutorial, but it was still much better than I expected.
One of the nice things about MindStudio is that it allows for as much or as little coding as you are willing to do. In my case, I had to reference exactly one variable that the model would use to get the correct answer.
There are many smart and very simple controls that can even teach you something about how the models work. MindStudio allows you to set, for example, the 'Temperature' of your model to control the randomness of its responses. The higher the “temperature,” the more unique and creative each answer will be. If you like your model to be detailed, you can drag another slider to set a response size of up to 3000 characters.
The free service includes unlimited consumer usage and messaging, some basic metrics, and the ability to share your AI via a link (like I've done here). Professional users can pay $23 a month for more powerful models like GPT-4, less MindStudio branding, and, among other things, site integration. The $99/month tier includes everything you get with Pro, but adds the ability to charge for access to your AI application, better analytics, API access, full chat transcripts, and enterprise support.
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I can see small and medium-sized businesses using MindStudio to drive customer engagement and content capture on their sites, and even as a tool to guide users through their services.
However, even on the free tier, I was surprised by the level of customization that MindStorm offers. I could add my own custom icons and layouts, and even create a landing page.
I wouldn't call my little AI app special, but the fact that I could take the germ of an idea and turn it into a custom chatbot in 10 minutes surprises even me. That you can choose the right model for each job within an AI application is even better; and that this level of fun and usefulness is free is the icing on the cake.
