Experiment with AI
This step is simply a text box that lets you ask the AI to revise, remove, or add to the input data however you like. It’s the most flexible of the AI steps … but that means it has the most variable results, too!
At launch, you can use Parabola AI steps at no extra charge to your team. After a beta period, we’ll move to a usage-based model for Parabola AI. (You will not be charged retroactively for usage during the beta period.)
Examples of experimenting with AI using this step
- Take a list of product categories, and ask the step to assign emojis to each one
- Change the values in a column to title case… but only if the word looks like a name or a proper noun
- Analyze the sentiment — positive, negative, neutral — of a column with text
- Remove values from a column that meet a certain condition
How to use this step
This step is simply a text box, where you can make a request of the AI (also known as a “prompt”). Your results will depend in part on the specificity of your prompt. Here are some tips for making the most of this step.
- You can refer to existing columns by name. If it helps, you can even try putting them into quotes to isolate them.
- Prompts can be several sentences long. If you start out simply and don’t get the result you want, try explaining your ask in more detail!
- Sometimes using an example helps. If you’re trying to get the AI to rate the cuteness of animals, you can say: “The cutest animals are fuzzy, like squirrels, rabbits, and pandas. Young animals are also cute, like puppies, kittens, and bunnies”
- Check out OpenAI’s tips for writing a good prompt (aka “prompt engineering”)
Helpful tips
- Currently, the AI can only run a few thousand rows at once. Choose and trim your data accordingly
- Sometimes you’ll see a response or error back instead of a result. Those responses are often generated by the AI, and can help you modify the prompt to get what you need.
Working with AI in Parabola
With our Artificial Intelligence (AI) steps, Parabola lets you process your data with OpenAI’s GPT AI in specific, useful, and reliable ways. But working with AI comes with important considerations.
AI has natural limitations
AI is a new field in technology, and while the results are sometimes exciting, they’re often less dependable than traditional human-built data processes. Consider reading OpenAI’s breakdown of their AI’s limitations, and keep the following in mind when using an AI to process data:
- Model limitations: Understand GPT's knowledge cutoff. GPT can “hallucinate” or be confidently incorrect, so do not expect results to be perfectly accurate all of the time.
- Data sharing: When data is processed using Parabola’s AI steps, that data is sent to OpenAI, a 3rd party. Review their policies and practices to understand how they handle your data.
- Monitoring: Continuously assess GPT performance; take corrective actions as needed.
- Responsible use: Adhere to regulations; inform stakeholders of limitations and risks.
AI processing is … different
We’ve made data processing with an AI easier than ever before! But when you use AI as part of a Parabola Flow, those steps can be less transparent and reliable than the rules-based transform steps that your Parabola Flows normally use.
Keep this in mind especially when automating processes where exact precision is critical, like financial data. Consider using AI for steps that require “interpretation” — which AI can be quite good at! — rather than precise calculation.
Feedback feeds us!
If you have feedback about the usefulness of these steps, or the AI-generated responses you’re getting from them, please tell us!