COMSOL 6.3 - Using a Chatbot

Using a Chatbot


	The Chatbot window functionality connects to an external AI system. A subscription agreement with the AI system host is needed to obtain an API key. COMSOL is not a party in this agreement, and use of the external AI system may be subject to additional fees. It is your responsibility to ensure that your use of the AI system is in accordance with laws and policies that may apply. It is also your responsibility to review the suitability of any suggestions made by the AI system.


	The Chatbot window is only available with the Windows® version of the COMSOL Desktop. The COMSOL software must also be installed with the CHATBOT feature included in the installation and enabled using the Enable Chatbot checkbox on the Chatbot page in the Preferences window. By default, the CHATBOT feature is not included, but if it is selected and installed, the Enable Chatbot checkbox is selected by default.

From the menu on the toolbar in the Windows version, choose (

) to open the window for chatting with the OpenAI or Azure OpenAI GPT-4 model, which can assist with generating and correcting COMSOL API for Java® code from within COMSOL Multiphysics as well as modeling questions related to the COMSOL Multiphysics software. Doing so can help out with programming using the COMSOL API for Java® as well as with general COMSOL modeling using the COMSOL Desktop. The window appears both in the Model Builder workspace and in the Application Builder workspace.


	The chatbot functionality requires configuration of an OpenAI or Azure API key. For more information, see https://www.comsol.com/learn/chatbot.

To configure a chatbot provider, click in the window. In the window, choose a provider in the list and enter a key in the field. If you are using Azure OpenAI, also enter an endpoint URL in the field and a model deployment name in the field (see Chatbot Preference Settings for more information). Then click . You can then start a chatbot conversation.

Chatbot Conversations

From the start, the list at the top of the window only contains . In the input area at the bottom of the window (where the text appears), type a prompt (any question or statement) for the chatbot to respond to. Press Enter to submit the prompt as a message to the AI system, or click the button (

). Press Shift+Enter to add a new line to the input area for submitting prompts. The conversation is named from the first message that you submit. The reply, including your input and all further messages appear in the output area in the middle of the window. In the output area, you can right-click any message in a conversation and choose (or press Ctrl+C) to copy the content of that message, or choose to open the part in a window where you can see the message in a separate view. The window can be resized.

From the list, choose to start a new conversation. Then use the list to switch between all active conversations. You can also click the button (

) to add a new conversation. Click the button (

) to delete the current conversation; click the button (

) to clear all conversations.

In the input area, you can select some text and then right-click it and choose (or press Ctrl+C) to copy that text, (or press Ctrl+X) to remove it, or (or press Ctrl+V) to replace it with some previously copied text. If the cursor is outside any text, only is available, if something has previously been copied.

The messages are of the following types:

•

Messages posted by you, which have a

symbol in their upper-left corner.

•

Messages that are replies from the AI system, which have a

symbol in their upper-left corner.

•

Message that contain code, which have a

symbol in their upper-left corner.

•

Messages with an attached method, which have a

symbol.

From the list in the top-left corner of the window, you can choose from a list of subjects:

•

Choose

(the default) for any general conversations.

•

Choose

for any conversations that focus on programming using the COMSOL API for Java®.

•

Choose

for any conversations about general COMSOL modeling and the COMSOL Desktop.

Click the button (

) at the bottom of the window to attach methods from the Application Builder using the dialog that opens. The list of available methods include local and form methods as well as event methods such as onClick. This is an alternative to pasting the method code into the input area to ask about it if you have an Application Builder method that you have written or otherwise acquired. Right-click a method in the output area and choose (or press Ctrl+C) to copy the method content. You can also right-click and choose to remove it (or press Delete) and , to open a dialog where you can see the model content. You can then ask the AI system to help out with debugging or improving the method, for example.

When in the Application Builder, you can right-click in a method window and from the submenu choose one of the following options:

•

Choose

(for example, depending on the method name) to attach the method to a message in the window.

•

Choose

(for example, depending on the method name) to attach the method to a message in the window with a suitable prompt for the given task, which you can adjust as you see fit.

•

Choose

(for example, depending on the method name) to attach the method to a message with a suitable prompt for the given task, which you can adjust as you see fit.

Connecting to the Java Shell Window

If you have code in a message in the output area (such messages have a

in the upper-left corner), then, in addition to the and options when right-clicking, you can also choose . The code is then transferred to the l window (see Interactively Using the COMSOL API for Java in the Java Shell Window), where it appears as a multiline input. Click the button (

) in the window to run the code from the window. You can also click the button (

) to send a code message to the window.

If you get an error from the suggested code when running it in the window, consider selecting the error in the window, right-click it and choose , submit it in the window, then use on the chatbot reply, run that Java code in the window, and so on until the chatbot provides correct and error-free code.

Tokens

OpenAI and Azure OpenAI uses tokens as the basis for their billing. AI language models operate on tokens that are bits of words. Both the model input and output consist of tokens and are billed for. The total tokens consumed by a conversation is defined as the sum of the input and output tokens accrued throughout a given conversation. The following two token counts are be displayed in the window’s top-right corner, next to :

•

The current conversation size, which represents the current number of tokens in the conversation.

•

Total usage throughout conversation, which represents the total number of tokens used by requests sent to the OpenAI or Azure API throughout the conversation.

You can see the values directly, with the current conversation size to the left and the total usage tot the right, abbreviated using K or M suffixes if needed. If you hover over the numbers, a tooltip such as displays the exact token counts.


	The token counts displayed in COMSOL Multiphysics may differ from the actual usage registered by the AI provider.

Chatbot Preference Settings

The following preferences, available on the page in the window, are related to the chatbot functionality:

•

The checkbox is selected by default. Clear it to close the window and its functionality.

•

In the field, enter the threshold after which a conversation is automatically truncated, in tokens (default: 100,000 tokens).

•

In the field, enter the maximum size of an individual user message, in tokens (default: 5000 tokens). This limit on the message size only applies to user messages and not the messages related to the assistant or function calls.

•

In the field, enter the number of ongoing conversations that are stored (default: 20, upper limit: 100). When the limit is surpassed, the oldest conversations are automatically deleted. The stored conversations can be accessed from the list in the window.

•

From the list, choose the AI provider that is used for generating responses: , (the default) or . If you choose , also enter the following settings:

In the field, enter the endpoint URL to your Azure OpenAI service. The URL should have the format: https://comsol.openai.azure.com, where comsol is your Azure OpenAI resource name.

In the field, enter the model deployment name specified at the given Azure OpenAI endpoint.

•

The field contains the OpenAI API or Azure API authorization key as hidden text.

•

From the list, choose the OpenAI or Azure OpenAI model to be used by the chatbot: , (the default), , or . If you choose , also enter the following settings for a custom model:

In the field, enter an id to determine the OpenAI or Azure OpenAI model.

In the field, enter the model context size, which limits the number of input plus output tokens in any given API request (default: 128,000 tokens).

In the field, enter a limit for the number of output tokens in any given API request (default: 4096 tokens).


	If you use Azure OpenAI as your provider, the model selected in the Model list must correspond to the model configuration of the Azure deployment.


	If you choose Custom from the Model list, see the OpenAI or Azure OpenAI documentation for correct values to use with the Model id, Context length (tokens), and Maximum generated tokens preference settings.