HOW YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN AI ASSISTANT

Sep 22, 2024

7 min read

To get a personal AI assistant capable of performing tasks like VEED, you'll need to combine several tools, platforms, and possibly custom development. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to set up a personal AI assistant for video creation and other functions:

1. Choose an AI Assistant Platform

You'll need an AI assistant framework to start with. Some popular platforms to build AI assistants include:

OpenAI (ChatGPT or GPT-4 API): You can integrate OpenAI models to handle text-based tasks, content generation, and conversation-like VEED’s chatbot.
Rasa: An open-source machine learning framework to build conversational assistants.
Google Dialogflow: A natural language understanding platform for building conversational interfaces.
Amazon Alexa Skills Kit (ASK): If you want a voice-first AI, you can build it with Alexa Skills.
Microsoft Azure Bot Framework: For more enterprise-oriented applications.

2. Integrate Task-Specific APIs

To train your AI assistant to perform functions like video generation, integrate APIs that provide media and task automation capabilities:

VEED.io API (if available): Automate video creation and editing tasks using VEED’s tools if they have a public API.
FFmpeg: A powerful multimedia framework to handle video and audio editing tasks.
Google Cloud Video Intelligence API: To integrate video analysis, transcription, and AI-based insights into your videos.
Other Video Editing APIs: Explore services like Veed, Kapwing, or Descript.

3. Custom Development

Natural Language Processing (NLP): Your AI assistant will need to interpret user commands and break them down into actionable tasks. This can be done using models like GPT-4 or custom NLP models tailored to your workflow.
Custom Script Writing or Code: You’ll need some development expertise (Python, JavaScript, etc.) to stitch together APIs, workflow automation, and task delegation.

4. Training Your AI

Supervised Learning: Provide your assistant with data and correct outputs for different tasks (like writing video scripts, making edits, etc.).
Fine-tune Pre-trained Models: If you use GPT or another large language model, fine-tune the model with data relevant to your use case (e.g., media creation tasks).
Action-Oriented AI: Define tasks such as “create video,” “edit subtitles,” “generate thumbnails,” and train your assistant to respond to these action triggers.

5. Deploying and Hosting

Cloud Solutions: Host your AI assistant on cloud platforms like Google Cloud, Amazon AWS, or Microsoft Azure to ensure high availability and scalability.
Integrating with Tools: If you need your assistant to work with other tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a custom web interface, you can use services like Zapier or Integromat to automate workflows.

6. Automating Video Workflow

Workflow Automation: You can set up tools like Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat) to automate tasks like video uploads, generation, or even sharing results on social media.

Example: Building a VEED-like AI Assistant

You could create an assistant that:

Takes user input for video scripts (similar to how VEED’s GPT generates video scripts).
Automatically edits videos (using FFmpeg or a video editing API).
Generates subtitles, translations, or voiceovers.
Integrates AI-driven avatars or stock footage into videos.

7. Expand Capabilities Over Time

Once the core functionality is built, you can expand its abilities with more tasks, including AI video avatars, facial recognition, background music generation, etc.

WHAT'S THE LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY TO ACCOMPLISH THIS?

The least expensive way to get a personal AI assistant that can perform tasks like video generation, script creation, or video editing would involve using free or low-cost tools, open-source software, and some custom development. Here’s a breakdown of how you can achieve this cost-effectively:

1. Use Open-Source Tools

Open-source software eliminates the need for licensing fees and offers a lot of flexibility for customization. Here’s what you can use:

FFmpeg (Free): An open-source tool for handling video, audio, and other multimedia tasks. It can be scripted to automate tasks like video cutting, merging, adding subtitles, and more.
Rasa (Free): An open-source conversational AI framework to build your own assistant that can interpret user commands.
Hugging Face (Free tiers): Provides free pre-trained AI models like GPT-2, BERT, and more. You can fine-tune them for generating video scripts and text-based tasks.
OpenAI GPT API (Free trial & Low-Cost Tiers): OpenAI offers a free trial of their API and after that, it’s pay-as-you-go, which can be quite affordable depending on usage.

2. Leverage Low-Cost APIs

OpenAI API: While OpenAI’s GPT API costs money, it is relatively cheap for light to moderate usage. Pricing depends on the number of API calls you make. You can start with GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 models for as low as a few dollars a month for basic tasks like generating scripts.
Google Cloud Video Intelligence API: Offers a free tier, and for small-scale projects, it can be quite cost-effective to use for tasks like analyzing and tagging video content.

3. Use Low-Cost SaaS Video Tools

If building a full video generation system is too complex or costly, you can integrate existing low-cost platforms like:

VEED.io (Free plan with limits): Allows basic video editing tasks. The free tier gives access to some video editing features, and the paid tiers are relatively inexpensive starting from around $12/month.
Kapwing (Free & low-cost plans): A free video editing platform with an affordable pro plan (around $17/month) that unlocks more features for automation, text overlays, etc.
Canva (Free & Pro plans): Great for designing video content (thumbnails, basic editing) with free features and a pro plan starting at $12.95/month.

4. DIY Approach (With Minimal Development)

Use Python Scripting: Combine open-source libraries and free APIs to build a basic assistant. You can use:
- Python + FFmpeg for video editing automation.
- Python + OpenAI API to generate video scripts.
- Speech Synthesis tools like gTTS (Google Text-to-Speech, free) to generate voiceovers.
Automation Tools like Zapier (Free tier): You can use free automation tools like Zapier to connect tasks like script generation, video editing, and sharing videos to platforms like YouTube or social media.

5. Minimal Hosting Costs

Use Free or Low-Cost Cloud Hosting: To run your personal assistant, use a low-cost hosting solution:
- Google Cloud’s Free Tier or AWS Free Tier offers enough computing power to host a small personal AI assistant for a year without cost.
- Heroku: A simple cloud platform that offers a free tier, which could be enough to run basic AI automation.

6. Training AI on Your Local Machine (Free)

If you don't need to deploy a cloud solution and can work locally, you can fine-tune models and run tasks on your personal computer:

Transformers from Hugging Face: These models can be trained or fine-tuned for free using local resources or free cloud services (like Google Colab).
Google Colab: Provides free computing resources where you can run machine learning models (with limitations on time and resources, but good for lightweight tasks).

Summary of Costs:

Open-source Tools (FFmpeg, Rasa, Hugging Face models): Free
Low-cost APIs (OpenAI GPT, Google Cloud APIs): As low as a few dollars/month for basic usage
Low-cost SaaS Tools (VEED, Kapwing): Free tiers or starting at ~$12/month for pro features
Hosting Costs: Free using Google Cloud’s Free Tier, AWS Free Tier, or Heroku for small projects

Example Setup for a Low-Cost AI Assistant:

Script Generation: Use OpenAI's GPT-4 API (very affordable for low volumes).
Video Editing: Use FFmpeg (free) for automating basic video edits or Kapwing’s free plan for more user-friendly editing.
Voiceover: Use Google Text-to-Speech (gTTS) for free or leverage OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 TTS for low-cost voice generation.
Automation: Set up Zapier or Python scripts to automate the workflow (minimal to no cost).

Let’s break down how you can get started with a basic setup for your personal AI assistant at a low cost. I’ll guide you through each step and suggest which tools to use.

1. Step 1: Script Generation with OpenAI

You’ll want your assistant to generate video scripts based on prompts. OpenAI's API is perfect for this.

What You Need:

OpenAI API Key: Sign up for OpenAI here and get an API key. They offer free tokens initially.
Python Setup: If you’re comfortable using Python, we’ll use it to connect to OpenAI and generate text.
Basic Python Code to Generate a Script:

python

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import openai

# Set up your OpenAI API key

openai.api_key = 'your_openai_api_key_here'

def generate_script(prompt):

response = openai.Completion.create(

engine="gpt-4", # Use "gpt-3.5-turbo" for cheaper option

prompt=prompt,

max_tokens=500

)

return response.choices[0].text.strip()

# Example prompt

prompt = "Create a script for a video about the benefits of AI in healthcare."

script = generate_script(prompt)

print(script)

This will generate a script based on your prompt.

Cost: Free with initial tokens, then costs are based on API usage (~$0.03 per 1,000 tokens for GPT-4).

2. Step 2: Video Editing with FFmpeg (Free)

What You Need:

FFmpeg (Free): Download from here. FFmpeg is powerful for automating video tasks like trimming, adding subtitles, merging clips, and more.

Example FFmpeg Command:

Here’s a command to combine video and audio:

bash

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ffmpeg -i input_video.mp4 -i voiceover.mp3 -c:v copy -c:a aac output_video.mp4

You can automate tasks like adding a watermark or combining multiple clips into a final video.

3. Step 3: Voiceover with Google Text-to-Speech (gTTS) (Free)

To add voiceovers to your videos, you can use gTTS to convert scripts into speech.

What You Need:

Install the gTTS library:

bash

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pip install gtts

Python Code for Voiceover:

python

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from gtts import gTTS

import os

def generate_voiceover(text, output_file="voiceover.mp3"):

tts = gTTS(text)

tts.save(output_file)

return output_file

# Example script to convert to voiceover

script = "Predictive analytics is changing the game in industries like healthcare and finance."

generate_voiceover(script)This will save the voiceover as an MP3 file, which you can add to your video using FFmpeg.

4. Step 4: Automate with Zapier or Python

To automate tasks like combining the script, voiceover, and video:

Zapier (Free Plan): Automate workflows, e.g., automatically upload the generated video to YouTube.
Python Scripting: You can combine all your tasks in one Python script to generate the video, create a voiceover, and finalize the output.

Example Python Automation Script: This script will generate a script, create a voiceover, and combine it with a video using FFmpeg:

python

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import openai

from gtts import gTTS

import os

import subprocess

# OpenAI API for script generation

openai.api_key = 'your_openai_api_key_here'

def generate_script(prompt):

response = openai.Completion.create(

engine="gpt-4",

prompt=prompt,

max_tokens=500

)

return response.choices[0].text.strip()

# gTTS for voiceover

def generate_voiceover(text, output_file="voiceover.mp3"):

tts = gTTS(text)

tts.save(output_file)

return output_file

# FFmpeg for video editing

def combine_video_and_audio(video_file, audio_file, output_file="output_video.mp4"):

command = f"ffmpeg -i {video_file} -i {audio_file} -c:v copy -c:a aac {output_file}"

subprocess.run(command, shell=True)

# Workflow to generate everything

def create_video_from_prompt(prompt, video_file):

script = generate_script(prompt)

print("Generated Script:", script)

voiceover_file = generate_voiceover(script)

print("Generated Voiceover:", voiceover_file)

combine_video_and_audio(video_file, voiceover_file)

print("Video created successfully!")

# Example usage

create_video_from_prompt("A video explaining the importance of AI in finance.", "input_video.mp4")

5. Step 5: Hosting & Cloud Solutions

If you want to run this assistant online:

Google Colab (Free): Great for running Python scripts in the cloud without paying for hosting.
Heroku (Free): You can host your assistant as a web service for basic usage.

Summary of Setup: