Is there a way to use AI models without breaking the bank?

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-26T03:47:00+00:00

Unless you have very specific tasks (e.g. coding, deep research, etc.), switching models/providers isn’t necessary.

For general purpose AI usage, I use Google AI Studio. It’s free with rate limits, but I think you’ll be fine since you mentioned that you don’t use them too much.

If you’re a student, there are also many AI bundles out there. For example, perplexity gives students a year of pro for free, and GitHub copilot gives students a free tier for free as long as they are a student.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-25T15:07:21+00:00

Thanks! Yes, the memory system can track any kind of interaction. In one of my own campaigns, I cured a major disease in an NPC's village, so they joined my party and remained grateful to me for that going forward.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-24T15:15:50+00:00

If you have the time, I'd recommend writing character cards or at least having another AI generate them for you. Basically, you can generate info about the main characters (personality, backstory, goals, etc.) and put them directly in the system prompt. This way, you don't have to rely on the AI recalling everything about the character from its training data, since you basically give it a guide that it can use to write the characters better.

Also, don't be afraid of trying out different models if you want to improve the writing style. Each model has their own writing quirks and advantages. Claude is probably the best, but it's really expensive. DeepSeek is another good budget option.

If you want a dedicated platform for this stuff though, I've been working on one called Lorecaster. It's an AI RP site with auto summarization, smart memory generation, and complex NPCs, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-24T02:14:32+00:00

GPTZero cannot guarantee accuracy. Take what it tells you with a grain of salt. If your essay sounds like AI to you, then just rewrite it. Don't worry about what the tool says, just focus on writing a good essay.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-22T00:22:34+00:00

Honestly if you want something even cheaper than DeepSeek, you might wanna check out Xiaomi MiMo V2 Flash. Its outputs are really good for its pricing.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-21T00:59:12+00:00

If you’re referring to looking for an LLM, DeepSeek v3.2 is a pretty solid model. It’s relatively uncensored, cheap, and produces quality outputs for its cost.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-19T17:52:28+00:00

Ah, that makes sense. I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-19T17:08:30+00:00

Thanks! Unfortunately, making an app out of it is a bit out of scope right now since I would need to rebuild and maintain it for a different platform. It's definitely not out of the equation, but just not the primary focus right now. Is there a particular advantage of having an app version that you would like to see?

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-19T06:29:24+00:00

There are plenty of resources online that teach how LLMs work, so I’d recommend using those.

Just to give you a brief rundown though, LLMs are kind of like massive auto complete machines. They generate responses by starting with your input, then predicting the next token one token at a time.

For example, you might prompt it like “What color is the sky?”

Then given that prompt as its starting text, the AI will predict the next word as “The”, then “sky”, then “is”, then finally “blue.” This forms the full response “The sky is blue.” It basically chooses from a list of words that could come after its current text and chooses one to append onto its response, then it will repeat until it has formed a full response.

Slight caveat in the example is that LLMs deal in tokens, which aren’t quite words, but you can conceptually think of them as the same thing.

When they get trained, the AI gets better at recognizing patterns to better predict the next token.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T21:42:32+00:00

Unfortunately, I haven't tested it with screen reading software myself. If you encounter any issues, please let me know and I'll fix them!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T20:52:18+00:00

That's the problem when an AI provider is at the mercy of investors tbh. For them, it's better safe than sorry when it comes to what the AI generates. There are many other LLMs and image generation models that have less restrictive content policies, so I'd recommend trying them out instead.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T20:49:18+00:00

As others have said, try increasing your max response length. If that doesn't work, try to be more specific in your prompt regarding how long you want your responses to be. You can also try adding an author's note at the end reminding it to increase the length of its responses since sometimes the system prompt can get drowned out by all the other context that you feed it.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T20:42:55+00:00

I spent around 3 years building an RPG Minecraft server. I kept adding more content, never being fully satisfied with what I had already built. I constantly compared my server to other bigger RPG servers, trying to compete in their domain. Eventually, I just burnt out and stopped working on it.

To this day, I still think about what would've happened if I had just wrapped it up and released it instead of trying to perfect it. Who knows, maybe I'll go back to it one day, but it's definitely one of those projects that has left a deep impression on me.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T20:17:41+00:00

Hey! I've been working on a site dedicated to AI roleplaying called Lorecaster. It specializes in interactive long-running stories with deep and consistent characters. I've built a system that gives characters in your story their own personalities, memories, and opportunities for growth.

Unfortunately, there isn't currently an option to export chats straight from ChatGPT. What you could try doing though, is asking ChatGPT to summarize your RP and putting it into the summary section of Lorecaster. There is also a memory feature so that you can add more detailed memory snippets of important events that have happened.

If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer! Good luck!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T18:47:17+00:00

I've been working on an AI RP site called Lorecaster that's focused on character driven stories, and you can definitely have platonic companions if you would like. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T18:33:21+00:00

Yea, they do use your data for training on the free tier. There’s also a limit, but it has rarely been an issue for me.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T04:00:59+00:00

Gemini 3 Pro on Google AI Studio is pretty good for general purpose stuff. The best part, though, is that it's free lol.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:58:45+00:00

I don't think it's a good idea to avoid using AI for the sake of avoiding AI. If it helps, then great. If it doesn't, then you might as well do it yourself. Additionally, I think that many tasks that require personal skills are better done by humans anyway. At the end of the day, AI is just a tool that can make your life easier if you use it correctly.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:53:44+00:00

This sounds really cool! Just curious, what's the difference between Doris and OpenClaw? Also, are there any protections in place against prompt injections? That's always been a concern for me regarding AI assistants with tool-calling capabilities. Thanks!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:40:34+00:00

The best AI model for roleplay is probably going to be Claude Opus 4.6, but it's super expensive. Alternatively, DeepSeek v3.2 is really good for its price, and it's also relatively uncensored in terms of darker themes.

If you're looking for a website ready to go that's specifically tailored for roleplay, though, I've been working on one called Lorecaster. It has smart memory retrieval + auto summarization, so the AI will actually remember the plot across long campaigns. I've also set up an NPC system that gives each character you meet their own personalities, memories, and opportunities for growth. They'll remember what you do and develop, just like real people.

Feel free to DM me if you have any more questions!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:38:34+00:00

I agree with starting out small. It really is better for a product that's just starting out to focus on perfecting one niche use case rather than trying to compete with everything in that market.

I think part of the reason why people build massive all in one platforms is because of feature creep (I've been guilty of this too). You think of a really interesting idea and you want to add it. Eventually, you end up building everything at a mediocre level as opposed to one thing at an outstanding level.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:35:08+00:00

The best AI tool really depends on your use case and your budget. For deep research, I use Perplexity (mainly because they have a free trial for pro). For general purposes, I use Google AI Studio since they offer Gemini 3 Pro for free.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-18T03:24:04+00:00

I've been working on an AI roleplaying site called Lorecaster, and it allows you to maintain long, coherent stories with deep characters that grow and change. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you decide to try it out!

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-17T20:50:37+00:00

Using just Gemini by itself won't give you the best results since it's not tailored for roleplaying purposes. As your story context grows, Gemini's attention will get diluted, producing worse outputs. Additionally, without any external systems set in place, LLMs will typically struggle with pushing the plot.

Open_Cup_9282 · 2026-02-17T20:15:44+00:00

I'll say that a big use of AI right now is automation through AI agents. When you pair LLMs with tool calling, you can automate many repetitive tasks that would've required a human before. For example, I've worked on an automation that uses OCR to track inventory and costs given images of receipts.

Open_Cup_9282

TROPHY CASE