Sean is Coding #8: Life, Learning, and TheraGPT
Spring Break Edition: Developing with AI and literally getting the house in order.
Hey everyone,
Welcome to the eighth edition of "Sean is Coding" - the Spring Break edition. This week was a nice breather from the day-to-day intensity of Rithm, and I got to catch up on some life stuff while also diving deeper into the world of AI and programming. So, let's get right into it!
Spring Break Shenanigans
First off, I have to say that it was fantastic to have a week off from the bootcamp. It gave me the opportunity to focus on important things like cleaning the house, conquering the laundry mountain, and spending quality time with friends and family. I even managed to squeeze in a quick trip back home to Pennsylvania to visit my mom. It was great to recharge and reconnect!
Exploratory Learning
With a bit more time on my hands, I had the chance to dive into some interesting coding projects and brush up on my skills. I paired up with a few of my favorite bootcamp buddies to work on some independent study projects that we had been itching to tackle. I also took the opportunity to work through the "Advent of Code" 2022 challenge set and revisited some data structures and algorithms courses on Udemy that I'd been meaning to get back to.
Pre-Introducing TheraGPT
Most excitingly, this week allowed me to embark on a new side project that I'm calling TheraGPT. As many of you know, I've been swept up in the AI wave that's been taking over San Francisco and the tech world. With TheraGPT, I'm aiming to combine some of what I’ve been learning on the programming side with my fascination for AI/ML.
TheraGPT is an app I'm building using Open AI’s chat completions API. It was inspired by the realization that ChatGPT actually performs pretty well as a thoughtful and empathic CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) psychologist. The idea is simple: you input a negative thought that's been troubling you, and TheraGPT will
identify the cognitive distortions present,
provide strategies for overcoming those distortions, and
offer a reframed thought as an example to help you think more productively and objectively about the situation.
I tested TheraGPT with my mom, who struggles with anxiety and negative thought spirals, and she absolutely loved it. It was a proud moment for me, and I can't wait for more of you to check it out once it's ready.
In the meantime, here’s a clip of what it looks like to give you a sense (and the full source code is on Github). It's close to launch, but I still need to add some finishing touches and deploy it to a server.
That's it for this week's Spring Break edition of "Sean is Coding." As always, thank you for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing more updates and exciting developments in the coming weeks!
Until next time,
Sean