Silly Tavern AI is a user interface that allows you to interact with text-generation AIs in a fun and creative way. Silly Tavern AI is like a super-advanced chatbox that lets you talk to virtual characters from your favorite games or stories, or even those you come up with yourself. It’s an upgrade from something called Tavern AI, which was already pretty cool for role-playing or creating fan fiction.
In this article, we’ll explain what Silly Tavern AI is, how it works, how to get started with it, and some tips and tricks for a better chat experience. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to create your own interactive chat experience with Silly Tavern AI.
What is Silly Tavern AI?
Silly Tavern AI is a user interface that you can install on your computer or Android phone that allows you to interact with text generation AIs in an interactive chat mode. Silly Tavern AI connects to various AI backends that can act as the roleplay character or narrator for your chat session. These include OpenAI API (GPT), Kobold AI (either running locally or on Google Colab), Horde (a collaborative writing platform), Novel AI (a story generation platform), Ooba (a character creation platform), Window AI (a personality simulation platform), and more.
Silly Tavern AI also provides some useful features such as world info, memory, and actions. World info lets you store and retrieve information about the world you’re creating or exploring. Memory lets you keep track of what has happened in your chat session. Actions let you perform actions or commands in your chat session.
How to get started with Silly Tavern AI
To get started with Silly Tavern AI, you need to have some requirements and follow some steps to install and run it.
The requirements are:
- A computer or Android phone with internet access
- A web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Edge
- An account and access to one or more AI backends such as OpenAI API, Kobold AI, Horde, Novel AI, Ooba, or Window AI
- An optional account and access to an image generation backend such as VQGAN+CLIP or DALL-E
The steps are:
Step1: Download the latest release of Silly Tavern AI from the GitHub repository: https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern/releases.
Step2: Extract the zip file to a folder of your choice.
Step3: Run the start.bat file (for Windows) or the start.sh file (for Linux or Mac) to launch the web server.
Step4: Choose your AI backend from the dropdown menu and enter your API key or token if required.
Step5: Choose your image generation backend from the dropdown menu and enter your API key or token if required.
Step6: Create your own character or use a preset one from the character list.
Step7: Customize your chat settings and options from the settings menu.
Step8: Start chatting with your character by typing in the input box and pressing enter.
How Silly Tavern AI works
Silly Tavern AI works by connecting to different AI backends that can generate text and images based on your chat input. You can choose from different backends depending on your preference, availability, and budget.
However, OpenAI API is not free or easy to access. You need to apply for an invite and pay for the usage based on the number of tokens you generate. A token is a unit of text that corresponds to a word or a part of a word. For example, the sentence “Hello world” has two tokens: “Hello” and “world”. The more tokens you generate, the more you pay.
If you don’t have access to OpenAI API, or if you want to save some money, you can use other backends that Silly Tavern AI supports. These include:
- Kobold AI: A free and open-source platform that lets you run text generation models locally on your computer or on Google Colab. Kobold AI supports various models such as GPT-2, GPT-Neo, GPT-J, and T5.
- Horde: A collaborative writing platform that lets you write stories with other people or with AI models. Horde supports various models such as GPT-3 (via OpenAI API), GPT-Neo (via Eleuther AI), and T5 (via Hugging Face).
- Novel AI: A story generation platform that lets you create stories with AI models. Novel AI supports various models such as GPT-3 (via OpenAI API), GPT-Neo (via Eleuther AI), and T5 (via Hugging Face).
- Ooba: A character creation platform that lets you create characters with AI models. Ooba supports various models such as GPT-3 (via OpenAI API), GPT-Neo (via Eleuther AI), and T5 (via Hugging Face).
- Window AI: A personality simulation platform that lets you chat with AI models that simulate different personalities. Window AI supports various models such as GPT-3 (via OpenAI API), GPT-Neo (via Eleuther AI), and T5 (via Hugging Face).
Tips and tricks for a better chat experience
Use world info, memory, and actions to add context and details. World info stores information about the world you’re exploring, memory keeps track of the chat session, and actions allow you to perform commands.
Use samplers, modifiers, and filters to customize the AI output. Samplers offer different sampling methods, modifiers change style and tone, and filters can refine the content.
Utilize voice chat, translation, and summarization for added features. Voice chat lets you talk to the character using your voice, translation helps with language changes, and summarization condenses the chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Silly Tavern AI?
Silly Tavern AI is a user interface that allows you to interact with text generation AIs in a fun and creative way. You can chat with virtual characters from your favorite games or stories or create your own ones from scratch.
How does Silly Tavern AI work?
Silly Tavern AI works by connecting to different AI backends that can generate text and images based on your chat input. You can choose from different backends depending on your preference, availability, and budget. These include OpenAI API (GPT), Kobold AI (either running locally or on Google Colab), Horde (a collaborative writing platform), Novel AI (a story generation platform), Ooba (a character creation platform), Window AI (a personality simulation platform), and more.
Conclusion
Silly Tavern AI is a powerful and user-friendly platform that enables you to chat with various AI models and characters in an interactive and immersive way. Whether you want to role-play, write fan fiction, or find an AI companion, Silly Tavern AI can help you achieve your goals.
You can easily install and use Silly Tavern AI on your computer or Android device and customize the settings and options to your liking. You can also create your own characters and scenarios or choose from the ones available in the community.
