Enriching Voice to Voice Generation with On-Demand Knowledge
Inspired by our marketing manager Rob’s recent post on leveraging AI in personal applications, I decided to try OpenAI’s Realtime API for a practical project: creating a garden helper for my wife and me. But this experiment also demonstrated the broader power of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), a tool with potential applications far beyond the backyard. From personalized customer interactions to real-time data-driven insights, RAG offers a glimpse into AI’s evolving role in business.
Limitations of Pre-trained Models
While the conversational experience feels almost surreal (maybe AI will take my job…), there’s a key limitation when using a pre-trained model: it only knows what it was trained on—referred to as its “knowledge cut-off date.” In the case of GPT-4o, that’s the internet as of October 2023, which means it’s unaware of up-to-date information, like next week’s weather forecast. Not so “Realtime” after all…
Enter Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
I’ll dive deeper into Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) in a future post, but here’s the basic idea: We can extend the model’s knowledge by providing additional, relevant information through our prompts. A simple example would be asking ChatGPT, “What is the weather today?” versus prompting it with, “The weather today is 52 degrees and rainy. What is the weather today?” By including pertinent data along with our queries, we can enhance the AI assistant’s responses to be more up-to-date and contextually relevant.
Without Extra Information:
With Extra Information:
Building My Garden Helper
To create a more helpful garden assistant, I gave the model a few tools for fetching data, including a frost date database, a weather forecast API, and a knowledge base of gardening tips—all integrated through function calling. When a user asks a question, the model determines whether it needs to use any of these tools and what information, like location, it might require to provide an accurate response.
Let’s See It in Action…
In Review: A Work in Progress
It’s worth noting that the Realtime API and its integrations are still in beta, so I wouldn’t recommend relying on this technology for any mission-critical production applications just yet. There are still some rough edges—occasional latency issues, incomplete functionality in some areas, and the need for additional tools to fully support more complex use cases.
That said, now is the perfect time to start experimenting and building! The potential is already there, and it’s exciting to see what developers can create as these tools continue to evolve. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how other services and frameworks will catch up to incorporate Realtime API functionality seamlessly. The AI and voice interaction space is advancing quickly, and I expect even more robust ecosystems will form around it in the near future.
So, while it might not be production-ready yet, there’s no harm in starting now—learning, prototyping, and figuring out how this technology fits into our everyday lives.
What’s next
This project is just a glimpse of what’s possible when AI meets real-time data retrieval. Whether you’re experimenting with AI for fun or looking to apply it in more meaningful ways, the potential for innovation is vast. From personalized weather updates to smarter task management, there’s so much more we can achieve with these tools.
For businesses, the integration of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) with AI can lead to faster, more accurate decision-making and a deeply customized customer experience. By enabling AI systems to retrieve live data, RAG opens up new possibilities for industries to keep users informed with the most current information, address customer needs on the spot, and even personalize product recommendations based on the latest trends. As we continue to explore these tools, we’re excited to help businesses see how real-time data and contextual AI can drive growth and customer satisfaction.
Great gardens don’t just grow—they’re cultivated with intention, just like the best AI solutions. Our team will work with you to design and implement the right tools to ensure your business thrives. Ready to see what we can grow together?