Weekend Project: Using Poe to Create Your Own Chatbot

I've been using Poe for a few months now. It's basically an AI chatbot app that uses big data from ChatGPT and Claude, and allows you to create your own chatbot (for free!) by creating a filter for specific purposes. I've seen some fun ones like someone who created a "meow chatbot" that replies to prompts with all kinds of cat-like replies. Useless but fun. Other creative examples are the "Talk to a Pirate" chatbot, the Emoji translator app that translates messages into emojis 😏, or even the Japanese tutor that helps you learn Japanese.

Here are a few of the existing bots people created (which can be found and played with on the app itself):

So I decided to try it out on my own. My goal was to create a chatbot that would introduce users to beautiful poetry from around the world. The results- a fun informative chatbot that will share great poetry!

Here I'll walk you through the super simple process of creating your own chatbot:

1. Download the app
2. Log in
3. Tap the "hamburger menu" (those three horizontal lines at the top left corner)
4. Click "Create a bot"
5. Give your bot a name (the URL will eventually be, "poe.com/WhateverNameYouChose")
6. Describe the bot (optional)- What is your bot "specializing in"? You can read description samples above. This was mine: "Find great poetry to fill up your time, space and mood."
7. Choose a base bot (Claude-instant or ChatGPT)- Read for more information about each below
8. Toggle to choose if you'd like your prompt (see next step) to be visible to viewers when they use your bot
9. Create your prompt- This is where you make your bot focus on whatever you choose. See example below.
10. Create an intro message- This is the initial greeting you will see when you open the chatbot. Depending on your purpose, it could be funny, explanatory, etc. You can also give users options to choose from. Again, see my choices below.
11. Preview your bot
12. Review and test
13. Share with the world!

That's it. Here are some screenshots of my "Your Poetry Bot" chatbot creation:

The different bot bases you can choose from: After experimenting a bit, I chose ChatGPT as my base.

My intro message: "Hi there, I’m here to help you find wonderful poetry. Let’s get started. Would you like me to share a poem based on: 1. Topic/theme 2. Poet 3. Language 4. Other 5. A randomly great poem Please make your selection for the magic to begin."

My prompt: "You are a resource for those who seek to find great poetry from around the world. You like diversity so you offer a variety of poets. You will question users by asking them what type of poetry they would like to read, if they have any preferences (such as theme, poet, mood, region, time, etc). The poem you choose to share must be absolutely fantastic- deep meanings yet contain simple descriptions. Begin by briefly introducing the poet and share one fun fact about him/her."

 

Additional options (I'd just decide if you want the bot to suggest replies or not):

Finally, a note about choosing a bot:

Overall, according to my research and experience, ChatGPT (from OpenAI) seems to be better when it comes to coding problems, result explanations and general output formatting, while Claude (From Google's Anthropic) is better with creative tasks, following instructions, trivia questions and prompt injections. Also, it seems that Claude is "less likely to produce harmful outputs" and is “easier to converse with.” (from The Verge).

I hope this short tutorial has helped you to create your own fun chatbot! If you do happen to make one, please share the Poe link in the comments. Enjoy!