• 2023/09/13

Integrating ChatGPT into a Web Service

ChatGPT exploded in 2023. It is a conversational AI from OpenAI, and even a year ago I barely knew the company’s name. Today it is everywhere—bookstores are full of guides, and OpenAI recently announced fine-tuning for GPT‑3.5 (GPT‑4 support is planned). Here is how I would approach embedding ChatGPT into a web product.

Call the ChatGPT API from your backend

OpenAI provides an API. You can invoke it server-side and tailor responses with prompt engineering. Imagine an e-commerce search experience where, instead of toggling filters manually, the user chats:

• Bot: “What are you looking for?”
• User: “Wireless earphones.”
• Bot: “What is your budget?”
• User: “Around ¥2,000.”
• Bot: “Any preferences (color, sound, battery)?”
• User: “Black with long battery life.”
• Bot: “Here are some options.”

By structuring prompts carefully and formatting the response to match your UI, you can deliver conversational search without major training.

Fine-tuning

Fine-tuning retrains the model on your own data so it better fits your domain. In theory this yields higher accuracy than prompts alone, but it is harder: you need training data, must pay for training and inference, and evaluation is tough. I have not seen many production successes yet; it feels premature today, though potentially powerful later.

Summary and concerns

Broadly, you either call the API or fine-tune a model. Even within the API route you have options: optimize outputs for specific inputs, let ChatGPT synthesize results, have it summarize content, etc. Creativity matters.

My worry is that a pure API integration may underuse your proprietary data (user behavior, catalog details). Those datasets are unique assets that differentiate your service, but the API simply lets you consume ChatGPT’s capabilities—it does not automatically learn from your data. Finding ways to blend your data with ChatGPT’s strengths will be key. The API is inexpensive and accessible (GPT‑3.5 via the UI is even free), so experimentation is within reach. Given the pace of generative AI, staying informed is essential.