jdilla.xyz

OpenAI bet

2023-11-18

Sam Altman will be back as CEO of OpenAI within 60 days of today.

How to configure your CustomGPT to send emails

2023-11-16

Have you ever been deep in a ChatGPT conversation and wanted to email a piece of it to yourself to remember later? Or wanted to share part of a conversation with a friend?

Now with CustomGPTs, you can configure your GPT to send emails on your behalf using SendGrid for free. Here’s how you can do it.

First, some things to be aware of

  1. It is possible to spam people with this. Don’t do that! Also, SendGrid has spam prevention systems in place and pretty soon your email will end up in people’s spam folders never to be seen again. Also, life is too short. Put that energy into something productive.
  2. If after setting this up, you make your CustomGPT public, people will be able to send emails using your email address paid for by you. This is probably not what you want!

To do this you’ll need: * A free SendGrid account (you can sign up here). * An email address you want to use * Access to CustomGPTs

Get set up with SendGrid

  1. You’ll need to verify your email address with SendGrid, which you can do here: https://app.sendgrid.com/settings/sender_auth. It’s pretty self explanatory and they have good docs.
  2. Create a SendGrid API key and hold onto it, you’ll need it in a second. You can do that here: https://app.sendgrid.com/settings/api_keys

Note: SendGrid is free for up to 100 emails a month, beyond that you’ll need to pay.

Create a CustomGPT

  1. Go to create a CustomGPT(https://chat.openai.com/gpts/editor)
  2. Go to the configure tab
  3. Go to add actions
  4. Import the json file: You can place this link in the import schema field or copy and paste from this github file into the OpenAI action schema.
  5. Add your API key to the authentication field with auth type Bearer. Save your action.
  6. In the Instructions field for your CustomGPT, instruct your CustomGPT on how to use the email action. It’s super important that you tell it to only use your verified email address, otherwise you’ll get errors from the SendGrid API, but I also give it a sender name to make things appear a little nicer in my inbox. When you’re done, save the CustomGPT.

My instructions

When using the api.sendgrid.com action to send emails, always use the email address <TheEmailAddressYouVerifiedAbove@example.com> no matter what. The best sender name to use is Name you Prefer to be called.

Send an email

  1. Start using ChatGPT as you normally would. When you want to email something, prompt it to do so.
  2. You’ll get a dialog making sure you’re okay with CustomGPT taking this action. Make sure to press “Allow”. You should see a confirmation message and your email will get sent. In practice, it is a little bulky, but it will get smoother with time.

Things to try next

I haven’t tried this yet, but I suspect I’ll be able to configure the bot with multiple accounts. So I’ll be able to say email so and so from my work email or email my wife from my personal email.

If you get a chance to use this, I’d love to hear how you’re doing it. Drop me an email at jdilla.xyz@gmail.com from your next CustomGPT chat!

Visuals for those who find that easier to follow

Important places in the SendGrid UI

sendgrid.png

CustomGPT action json import

import_json.png

CustomGPT action authentication configuration

api_key.png

CustomGPT instructions

instructions.png

Making skincare products from seaweed

2023-11-14

IMG_3371.jpeg

When Matthew and I were beginning to look at starting Macro Oceans, one of the things that got me interested in the opportunity was the mystery of it: if seaweed is so chemically rich and so easy to grow, why isn't it used for more things?

As we dug deeper into this question, I became convinced that there aren't fundamental reasons why seaweed can't be used for more things; instead, someone had to come along and make it happen.

While there have been many setbacks, false starts, and complexities over the past three years, I haven't seen anything that has changed my mind about this. Seaweed does have natural assets and it should be used for more things.

Today we announced the launch of our first product, Hydrating Marine Polysaccharides, which is our first contribution making this happen.

Hydrating Marine Polysaccharides is a bio active cosmetic ingredient, which means it's the thing that makes a skincare or haircare product make your skin feel better or hair look better. It has proven hydrating properties and a true clean beauty profile: zero waste, fully traceable to the farm in Alaska where it was grown. I'm excited to build on this in 2024!

Some personal reflections

  • This is my first cosmetic ingredient. I've launched more software products than I can count, but it was fun try this in a new domain. I was surprised at how much transferred!
  • In particular, cosmetic ingredients reminds me of developer products. The formulator is hiring your ingredient to do a job. This job is functional, but it's also a part of the marketing story for the product.
  • An added complexity is the brand / incubator / manufacturer relationship. Manufacturers purchase the ingredients, but brands ultimately own the formulas.
  • I'm really proud of how fast the Macro Oceans team moved to make this launch happen; we had our first planning meetings about this product in March and did our first manufacturing runs in August.

Loving kindness

2023-11-12

Orthodox Jews, although they comprise about 0.2 percent of U.S. population, account for some 18 percent of so-called altruistic kidney donations (i.e., those where a living donor gives an organ to a recipient he or she doesn’t know).

From Mosaic Magazine