Inspiration

The inspiration for this project came from my own experience using online dating apps. I was frustrated with the amount of time it took me to come up with a unique and clever icebreaker whenever I had a match. Sometimes, I would be stuck on a particular match for multiple days until I would give up. As a result, I started using Chat GPT to generate my icebreakers. But even that was taking up a lot of time, as I would have to spin up the website and come up with an appropriate prompt. I eventually had enough and decided to come up with my own seamless solution to this problem by creating an AI app that would generate "icebreakers". And so, icebreakers was born!

Styling

It was really important that this app was optimized for mobile first, as that is where most online dating takes place. Luckily, the MUI library makes it easy to create responsive websites. I also designed the MUI components to be as simple as possible. My main goal was to make this app easy and fast to use. For the logo, I used Brandmark for inspiration. Brandmark is a great tool for creating logos and branding, and that is how I came up with both my Logo and the Font. For the coloring, I wanted to use shades of blue and pink to represent the primary male and female colors. I used Haikei to generate the background gradient, and then experimented with different colors for the buttons and boxes until I found combinations that I liked.

Vision

My vision for this project was to use the Open AI API to generate 3 unique and clever pickup lines that could be sent to your online dating matches. I had already experimented with this concept using Chat GPT before, but I had some free time and wanted to build an app to make this process easier and quicker. With icebreakers, you simply input your matches name, gender, and a fun fact. Then, click generate and the app will return unique icebreakers that you can either copy and paste straight into the dating app or take inspiration from to come up with your own!

Utilizing the Open AI API was a very fun and creative process. There are dozens of models you can choose from and I decided to go with the GPT 3.5 model. I would have used GPT 4, the latest update, but I have not been granted access yet. However, GPT 3.5 would be sufficient for now, as that is the model that standard Chat GPT is based off of.

I should note that if you use the GPT 3 Model you can actually "train" the AI based on specific icebreakers. This would be useful if I had a large dataset of icebreakers that received positive responses so I could better train the AI to generate better icebreakers. If I were to collect feedback on the icebreakers, this could be a future goal.

First, I would have to come up with the prompt. This was the most important part of the process, as you can only receive great outputs with a great standard prompt. I experimented with a variey of prompts until I found one that would return longer icebreakers that swayed to the funny and clever style. Personally, I wanted the app to match my humor and I also wanted the icebreakers to seem thoughtful and drawn out a bit.

There were also multiple different settings you can choose from using GPT 3.5. These included temperature, number of iterations, and max characters. Temperature is the uniqueness of the outputs. Basically, a higher temperature means you would receive a more unique and sometimes strange response. I set this to the max because I wanted the most unique outputs you could come up with. For number of iterations, I choose 3. I wanted the user to be able to choose between a few icebreakers, but I also had to be aware of the costs. This also coincides with max tokens, which represents the length of the icebreaker. I didn't want the icebreakers to be too long as it would cost more. And for now, I am bootstrapping the app out of my own pocket.

I added a loader component to app that would appear after you clicked the "Generate" button. It's important to note that the generate button will only become active if there is a name and gender inputted into the respective fields. Fun fact is an optional input, but I would strongly reccomend filling it in as it provides much better icebreakers. I also added an uppercase and lowercase switch to format the outputs according to your personal preference if you were to copy and paste the icebreakers straight into the dating app. Lastly, I added a clear form button as a fast way to start the process over again.

Testimonials

I have not widely publicized the app yet because the OpenAI API does cost money to use. However, I have shared it with my personal circle and have of course used it myself. The responses I received were mostly positive!

I am extremely happy with the results of this project! Although it may take a few generations, I can expect to receive a pretty witty icebreaker that is unique to my matches personality. Enough so to get a positive response, which I can then continue the conversation to create a deeper connection

In the future, I plan to upgrade the API model to GPT 4. I also would like to provide categories to choose an icebreaker (more funny/clever/romantic/etc.) as well as create a feature where the user can pick an icebreaker they like but generate more options based on that specific style. I would also like to add a feedback form where I can gather data on the best icebreakers. But for now, I will continue using icebreakers to save time and accelerate my online dating experience!

Disclaimer: This app is only intended for the initial icebreaker. The steps after that are out of my scope 😂

Update (4/30/2023)

Icebreakers has been updated to use the GPT4 API!

At first glance, the results are much better and more unique. The generations tend to be longer and address the fun fact more directly. I still think it is best to use this tool as an idea generator and then modify it slightly to your personality, as the responses can sometimes sound "AI generated".

I also added a new feature where you can generate more icebreakers based on a previous icebreaker. This is useful if you like the style of a particular icebreaker and want to generate more like it! Good luck!