So you want your own AI?
This is a just a FAQ and getting started guide for those who think stream AIs like Aurora are interesting or those who just want a little peek into the "magic". I made this because I get a LOT of questions lately.This is NOT a guide on how to do it step by step nor is it everything you'll ever need to build your own AI. However, I think it will help you get started. Some of what makes Aurora work is also not covered here, I'm sorry but some of it I keep to myself as I like her being as unique as possible with the surge of AI VTubers.Also please keep in mind I don't know everything and I'm still learning. I am a computer scientist but when it comes to AI's I'm self taught.
A question for you to consider before starting...
Take a moment and consider: What all do I want this AI to do?No really, you need to consider a few things before you start.
Do you want just a TTS chatbot that is a bit more responsive?
Do you plan to have a full fledged AI solo streamer or Costar program like Aurora or even Neuro-sama?
What kind of budget do you have? You can start out for free or very little, but advanced AI programs require subscription services, server runtime fees, or expensive hardware.
The next sections are divided based on use case with a FAQ and helpful links at the bottom. Use these to skip ahead if you don't want to read it all:
"Simple" Stream AI Options
For those of you that simply want to give your TTS companion a simple personality and ability to talk you have a few GREAT AI options to consider. These trade off the need for expensive hardware for premade easier to use programs. They also connect to services with a lot of filtering built in, making the AIs a bit more bland but also a LOT safer without much filtering set up.These programs do have the drawback of connecting to paid services to run the AI, running slower, and having less customizability for personality.I'll offer minimal tips for these as I will defer you to their creators and their support if you choose these options.Some good options I've seen:
V.T.S. POG is the program I used for Aurora starting out. It costs $15 and uses OpenAI (the service behind chat GPT) for the AI functions. It has a lot of fun stream features that work with or without the AI as well and I recommend it for users that just want a bot with a personality to interact with chat and respond to redeems on your channel.
wAIfu-DEV is a bit more in depth and runs AIs that I think are better for streaming on their own. It is also free unlike V.T.S. POG. However, it is much more work than V.T.S. POG to set up and connects to Openai or NovelAI to power it's AI features. I have not used it but I've watched some streamers using it and I think they're pretty impressive for cloud based AIs. NovelAI is the main way to make these work as it's a character AI service but it is more expensive than OpenAI.
What is Aurora?
A simple question but it's important to explain for beginners or the unfamiliar.Aurora is primarily a LLM (Large Language Model). LLMs are deep learning transformer models, a type of neural network. In simpler terms, a program that has been given upwards of billions of conversation parameters to learn how to respond to conversations.LLMs run the fastest on VRAM, the ram or memory on GPUs. Unfortunately, at this time only NVIDIA GPUs work. You can not use AMD cards at the same speeds or as effectively due to the differences in how they are made. Models can run with a good CPU and Ram, but they are MUCH slower.There are actually multiple LLMs comprising Aurora currently and several other programs. That's more advanced than I'll get in this guide and more than you need to start out though.Here is a 30 min video explaining Transformer models if you want to learn more but it's more info than needed to understand or use them the way I do.
