How to Generate Text with GPT-3?

December 15, 2022

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing at an unprecedented rate, especially in the Natural Language Processing (NLP) domain. Just last month, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, which is an AI-based chatbot technology that has gone viral globally. Some say it has the potential to compete with Google's search engine. But behind this amazing technology is an autoregressive language model known as GPT-3. 

This post will walk you through how to generate text using GPT-3. In the end, we'll briefly review the applications of GPT-3 model.

What is GPT-3?

Developed by OpenAI, Generative Pre-training Transformer 3 (GPT-3) is an advanced deep-learning model for text generation. It has many variants depending on the size of the model. The largest variant contains 175 billion parameters. GPT-3 can generate accurate natural language text based on a given input prompt, making it a valuable tool in the NLP domain.

GPT-3 was introduced by Open AI in May 2020 as a successor to their previous language model (LM) GPT-2

The GPT-3 model is built on top of a deep learning architecture called the transformer. Transformers can learn the context of the input data by tracking the sequential relationship between the text. In NLP, transformers are modeled to generate human-like responses and can perform tasks like content summarization, language translation, or question-answering.

Setting Up a GPT-3 Account and Obtaining an API Key

Let’s discuss how we can use GPT-3 for text generation. First, get your GPT-3 API key. Follow the steps below:

  1. Go to OpenAI's website. Click on API in the top menu bar. 
  2. Click on Sign Up on the website's API page, as shown in the image below:

       3. Create an account via your email address or sign up via your Gmail/Microsoft account.

       4. Go to the API keys page and click on the "+ Create new secret key" button to generate a new API key.

        5. Once you see the API key generated prompt, copy the API key, save it in a file, and store it in a secure location. You will need this key to access the GPT-3 API.

Finally, don’t share the API key with anyone.

Choosing a GPT-3 model

The GPT-3 offers different variants with different sizes and capabilities. The model you choose will depend on your specific needs and the complexity of the text you want to generate. Let’s explore them below.

GPT-3 Models Available for Text Generation

Here are the GPT-3 models currently available for text generation:

  • text-davinci-003

This is the most capable model available. It is capable of generating highly sophisticated text with longer output and better following instructions. It can handle more complex instructions, giving you greater flexibility in using its capabilities. It excels at generating longer-form content, making it suitable for tasks that were previously challenging to complete. "davinci" is suitable for generating text for specific audiences e.g., a response for a 10-year-old or one for a scholar.

  • text-curie-001

Compared to the "davinci" variant, this model is faster and more cost-effective. Curie is employed for tasks like text summarization, chatbot applications, Q and A, or sentiment classification.

  • text-babbage-001

This GPT-3 variant is smaller than the previous two models but is capable of accurate text classification. It is most effectively used for semantic search classification at low costs.

  • text-ada-001

Text parsing, simple classification, and address correction are the most prominent capabilities of text-ada-001. 

Among the text generation models discussed, "davinci" can perform all the tasks the rest of the models can perform. It is the most capable but slowest and most costly, whereas the "ada" model is the fastest and most suitable for most basic tasks.

Determining Which Model Is Best Suited for Your Needs

There are two approaches for selecting the optimal GPT-3 model.

  1. Consult the GPT-3 documentation 
  2. Experiment with different variants. Observe which model generates the best results for your specific task. 

Some of the important considerations while selecting a relevant GPT-3 model are:

  • Size of the Model
  • Larger models like "davinci" or "curie" tend to perform better but require more resources and are more expensive.
  • For most tasks, the medium "babbage" model should be sufficient.
  • Type of Tasks to Use the Model for
  • Different models are optimized for tasks such as translation, summarization, or question answering.
  • Specific Requirements of Your Task
  • Choose a model that is trained for the language or style you need.
  • Choose a model that is optimized for specific performance or accuracy requirements.
  • Cost and Resources Required to Use the Model
  • Larger models require more computational resources and are more expensive.
  • Choose a smaller model if you have limited resources or budget.

Using the GPT-3 API with Python

OpenAI provides a Python library to facilitate the use of the GPT-3 API. The following are some of the prerequisite steps:

  • Install Python or update to a recent stable version.
  • Install or upgrade pip by following the instructions provided in their documentation.
  • Next, install the OpenAI library using the following pip command in the terminal:

The pip command will install all of the openai dependencies as well. After that, write the python script to call the GPT-3 API.

Writing a script to generate text with the GPT-3 API

Writing the script for basic GPT-3 HTTP requests is simple. Authenticate the API and execute requests as mentioned in the steps below:

  • First, authenticate the GPT-3 API via the secret API key we created and saved earlier.
  • Then, load the latest "text-davinci-003" model engine for text generation. 
  • Finally, provide the input prompt. Set the maximum length of generated tokens to 100. And fill in the required parameters (like temperature = 0.5 for text creativity) of the Completion.create() method to generate a text response. Details of the parameters are given below:

  • max_tokens sets a limit to the tokens generated by the model.
  • temperature is the sampling temperature that tells the model how much risk it can take. Higher the value, the more diverse will be the generated text.
  • stop adds a stop sequence to the output generation. It is useful in keeping the output relevant.

The input prompt receives a text response: "This is indeed a test." 

The use of GPT-3 for basic text generation is as simple as this. For complex usage, the parameters can be tweaked to generate long-form content. We have discussed a few of the options the GPT-3 API provides. Users can explore more options in OpenAI's API documentation.

Best Practices Testing and Refining GPT-3 Generated Text

The key to getting the best results from the GPT-3 AI text generator model is utilizing the API effectively. Let’s discuss some best practices that can be applied to improve the quality of GPT-3 output.

  • Tweak Temperature Sampling: This option is critical in tuning the model as it controls the randomness (or creativity) of the text generation. The higher the temperature value, the more random the text will be. Try to find the balance between coherence and creativity.
  • Use Prompt Chain: To get better results, use the result of one prompt as input for the next prompt. The chain of prompts informs the model and helps in improved outcomes.
  • Choose the Best-Suited Model: Using a high-end model like "davinci" can be costly and inefficient if the text-generation tasks are not complex. It is best to start with a low-cost, faster model and fine-tune it first.
  • Adjust the top p Parameter: The top p setting corresponds to the nucleus sampling. You can adjust its value to limit or expand the scope of the potential outputs. For example, you can choose if the response should be generated from the response samples that correspond to top 70% probability distribution or a percent lower than that. The more the value, the more candidates the model will use for sampling.
  • Use the stop Parameter: The stop parameter can put a stop to the output generation if it diverges too much. This can help in avoiding content irrelevant to the given input context.

GPT-3 Common Issues & How to Troubleshoot Them

Despite many advancements, AI is not perfect – so is the case with GPT-3. There are some common issues to be wary of while working with GPT-3 for text generation:

  • Societal Bias: The GPT-3 is trained on a massive data corpus. It has learned patterns based on the words' structure, occurrence frequency, and succession in the training data. This presents issues like gender bias, religious bias, or racism. If you are making a customer service chatbot, you must watch out. Fine-tuning and the use of additional parameters are essential to avoid this issue.
  • Outcome Issues: This model can generate repetitive, irrelevant, or incorrect outputs. It is a consequence of a bad input prompt, or the model cannot generate a response depending on the provided context. Clear or more meaningful prompts and the use of additional API parameters can help avoid such issues. Moreover, the chain of prompts technique or fine-tuning can be used to improve the GPT-3 responses.

GPT-3 based text generation is an iterative process. It requires a lot of adjustment and experimentation. You can generate high-quality text by being mindful of GPT-3 issues and applying the best practices mentioned above.

Applications of GPT-3 

GPT-3 has been a big hit in 2022. The applications and the potential it brings will shape the future of AI technologies in the coming years. For instance, ChatGPT crossed a million users in less than a week of its launch. GPT-3's AI text generation has a lot of applications. Let’s list down some major use cases of this AI text generator:

  • Language translation
  • Personalized email generation
  • Spreadsheet autocompletion
  • Source of information (AI search engine)
  • Correction and improvement of written content
  • Customer service via chatbot capabilities
  • Generation of useful prompts for other AI prompt-based applications.
  • Content generation, like blog post writing
  • Content summarization
  • Generating scripts for presentations or videos
  • Help with writer's block via writing suggestions.

Despite some impressive features, GPT-3 is no replacement for human writers. It only supports writers or marketers by providing some creative writing input. 

Operationalize Your GPT-3-Based Product with Unleashing AI

GPT-3 is a powerful tool for generating high-quality text from a given prompt or context. It has numerous applications across a range of industries and fields and has the potential to revolutionize the way we create and consume text-based content.

Unleashing AI offers expert GPT-3 development services to help organizations leverage the power of artificial intelligence to generate natural language text. With a team of experienced GPT-3 developers, Unleashing AI can help build custom solutions that utilize the GPT-3 API to generate high-quality text for various applications. 

From generating content for social media and marketing campaigns to creating personalized emails and newsletters, Unleashing AI's GPT-3 development services can help take businesses to the next level. Schedule a call with Unleashing AI to learn more and get started with GPT-3 development.

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