How I Set Up My AI-Powered Second Brain in Obsidian (ChatGPT, Search, Assistant, Plugins, Tools)

[@skylerreeves]

I’m sure folks have pointed this out already but using ChatGPT with the custom frames 100% DOES NOT have access to your vault data. Custom frames uses s and that’s fundamentally not how s work.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

yes, i should have made it more clear oops. it only lets you use chatgpt

[@christerjohanzzon]

Yes, that is a valid point. I am however for letting a private chat bot analyze my stuff and tell me what to do in life... :D

[@MrCuecaB0x]

@@christerjohanzzon have you found it?

[@Nick-bj5pb]

I previously left a negative content on your editing style. The raw information and content you upload is unmatched and top tier. Thank you again.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

woah, unmatched is a bold word to use 🤯 i appreciate the kind words and thanks for appreciating what i choose to include in my scripts :)

[@alterdice640]

I started using obsidian not too long ago and your videos helped me quite a lot, can't wait for the second video in this series!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

epic to hear 😎 im excited to work on the second video too hehe

[@areejalhasan493]

Same bro these videos are so helpful!

[@pearlrose20]

This is exactly what I've been looking for as a new comer to Obsidian! Thanks so much. This was perfect and straight to the point!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@pearlrose20 np and glad it was helpful :)

[@MsAntonio664]

In Brazil there are people charging 200 dollars to teach this. Here it's free. Thanks!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

Np and enjoy :) Do you have a link to where they are charging this out of curiosity?

[@christerjohanzzon]

What a great video! How did I not know this already? Now I only need a plugin to my first brain and we're good to go! :P

[@itsjohnmavrick]

🤣

[@fleetingnotes]

Wow this is a great video! Crazy how powerful this plugin is :D

[@kzod887]

Not gonna lie, your keyboard sounds AMAZING! Where can I buy a keyboard like this to sound like an epic programmer?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

lmaoo, thank you :) How familiar are you with keyboard terms? I currently am using the switch couture alice switchcouture.com/products/switch-couture-acrylic-alice-style-chassis-1 You'll need to buy the other parts, so I'm using durock POM linears (lubed) and GMK Fuji keycaps

[@csdrago-creative]

This is so wild. Thank you so much!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

np, have fun with it hehe 😊

[@RodneyClang]

This seems amazing, but the with ChatGPT doesn't seem to have access to the note to the left, have tried highlighting, everything. How do you give it access to (current note?) (ex at your 3:30) perhaps you pasted from your highlights but it didn't show in the clip?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

yes my video editing software cut it out i did copy and paste it 😭

[@RodneyClang]

Oh haha@@itsjohnmavrick no worries, I just had FOMO. Great video, really helped me jump forward in this area, thank you!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@RodneyClang np, glad you enjoyed :)

[@profdrkatharinazweig]

Thanks so much for this video, very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to share! Here is my question: What do I need to do to keep smart connections updated with my notes? Do I need to upload new notes to get the embedding or is that taken care of automatically whenever I make a new note? Sorry if that is a dumb question - I am neither acquainted (yet) with Obsidian nor the smart connection-plug in. Thanks for your patience!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

not a dumb question :) i cant give you a specific answer as to how often it refreshes but from what i see, if you create a note then use the smart connections pane and search for it it will show up as a result. im just unsure on how often it updates the embedding since it would be inefficient and costly if it were to consistently do so. will get back to you if i find out more 👍

[@cacogenicist]

I think I would be more interested in using an open source model run locally. Orca looks very promising.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i haven't heard of orca, only looked into privateGPT a bit. what makes you lean more towards it?

[@home1250]

@@itsjohnmavrickrunning locally for data privacy and for the ability to use less gpu

[@RachelRamey]

And cost. I could easily be looking at $100s or even $1000s in API tokens to process my vault. :/ I LOVE the idea of being able to use AI to process my own data, but not at that price.

[@101RealTalker]

@3:30 Why does it not know/see/pull from what I highlight? I copied your tutorial there exactly, but it doesn't seem to be linked? I am logged into my chat GPT account but when I ask it to summarize what I have highlighted it just says "I'm sorry, but I cannot see or access any highlighted text or specific content that you might be referring to. Please provide the text or information you'd like me to summarize, and I'll be happy to help."??

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i highlighted it then pasted the content inside the chatgpt input, but it cut out because of my editing software

[@101RealTalker]

@@itsjohnmavrick oh

[@yannickhs7100]

Awesome ! Still I'm waiting for an AI that will select concepts/words of interest in each note and automatically put them into bracket. Shouldn't be too hard to make with AI development. This is the only thing that's refraining me from coming back to Obsidian for now, as I found using brackets too tidious of a process for each note !

[@itsjohnmavrick]

Interesting idea, I think some mix between the "unlinked mentions" backlinks feature and the AI similar search featured in the video would be 🤯 I think the features of the plugin is already insanely powerful though, just needs to be experimented with more to find out a cohesive framework for utilizing it (which I hope my next video will work towards) im assuming you're back with notion now?

[@yannickhs7100]

​@John Mavrick absolutely, I'm a bit sad that I left Obsidian as I love the idea, but now that we have already insanely powerful LLMs and chatbots, there's no more need for me to "store my knowledge" as I can simply retrieve more, better quality and written in the format I like in an instant. So for now, back with Notion just to organize things. But starting my grad school, I'll possibly make a new Obsidian vault just with course notes and research stuff that would go together ! Thank you for your dedication. Keep doing an awesome job

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@yannickhs7100 yeah, im surprised notion doesn't have a similar feature way also pulls from relevant notes in your workspace the good thing though is that you're pretty much able to just explore your notes from the ocean and as long as you have good headers and a good organization then you can probably export from notion and use any llm that comes out and ty for the kind words, glad to still see you around :)

[@cccZander]

Amazing Video ! Thanks so much. I do have a question .. for me it dose not seem to take into account anything I highlight ... What am I doing wrong ?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

you will need to copy paste it into chatgpt, my video software cut out the part where i pasted it 😭

[@cccZander]

@@itsjohnmavrick Ah ! :D Thanks for clarifying ! Keep up the mazing videos.

[@kennethjames1295]

The Smart Connections plugin looks to be an awesome enrichment to my zettelkasten. But I have a couple of questions. You suggest that it works off of "headings" and that we should be meaningful in the content of headings. What happens if I have hundreds of notes that each have the same heading structure, but the content indented under that heading is unique for each note. With hundreds of "the same" heading, does Smart-Connections still analyze the content of the note under each heading and work with that? Or do I need unique headings in each note to get the advantage of analyzing similar subject matter across all of these notes? Thanks for your advice.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

yes, sorry if that was not clear - the content inside is also very important in the classification of each section - i moreso recommended headings so your notes get broken down into more specific parts for smart connections results rather than just one for the note due to the heading if that makes sense

[@daveranck1]

Thanks for this video! It really helped me to decide to include Chat GPT with Obsidian. I am using the API and SmartConnections. Having Chat GPT review my notes and use them as a source when I query it is phenominal.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

yes it is very powerful, glad to hear you managed to set it up :)

[@gnsdgabriel]

The avatar doesn't match the high level of the content. I almost didn't click on the video because of the thumbnail. Anyway very good content!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

the avatar as in my profile picture and character? i appreciate the honesty and im glad you were able to still learn from my video 😊

[@shahfinancialsapeur2693]

Hello, I want to say that your video is informative. I was able to follow along with your video because it is very comprehensive. I’ve also archived this video for future reference. I wonder if you also have a video explaining how to install these items onto a portable device, such as an iPad or an iPhone. I specifically am having problems with smart connections working on my iPad; it’s stating that it is not compatible. Do you have a workaround for these issues?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

no i think it's a desktop plugin only :(

[@ShahToastmasters]

@@itsjohnmavrick Thanks!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@ShahToastmasters np :)

[@BeastFromTheEast.23]

3:33 how do you get the ai to summarize all the information without pasting it in i highlighted the collapsed header put the initial prompt in but then dont understand what you do after that

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i think it cut out of the video because of the editing software I used but you also have to paste the selected portion into the text box 👍

[@BeastFromTheEast.23]

@@itsjohnmavrick oh ok i thought i was doing something wrong lol i just had to many notes for it to summarize

[@obsolete9734]

whats the theme you're using currently, it looks really good!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

I used the minimal theme, and I also have the minimal theme settings plugin downloaded where I set "dark mode color scheme" to dracula :)

[@obsolete9734]

@@itsjohnmavrick that's where I recognised the colour scheme from! I use Dracula in vscode

[@holger_krumm]

Hey John, as usual, awesome content and so helpful. Can you help me with an issue? I go on your note "# 📚 How To Take Smart Notes", change to ChatGPT and prompt to summarize it. But it does not get the context (asking for more context about the wanted book). So I assume the link is not there.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

Hi Holger! ChatGPT does not have access to your notes, but Smart Connections plugin does, which is the personalized AI chatbot. When using ChatGPT you are limited to having to copy and paste the text into your message as well. If you want to be able to ask the vault questions you will have to add your own API key as shown in 4:33

[@holger_krumm]

@@itsjohnmavrick I see. And for that I need a Pro account. Looks like a great invest. Thanks, John! 🙏❤️

[@m.t-thoughts8919]

How did you managed to show up the todo list beneath the chat gpt frame?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

you mean the pane under? you can just drag it to bottom of the sidebar

[@m.t-thoughts8919]

@@itsjohnmavrick Nvm, I figured it myself. THANKS

[@dannylevitin]

Hi John, Adding ChatGTP using Custom Frames works just fine, however, when using it in my vault it keeps saying it dont have access to my information - I followed your video, what am I missing? Great video as always!! Thanks,

[@itsjohnmavrick]

did you also add your own API key? can you email me a screenshot with what it shows?

[@greglongoria2100]

I use Smart Connections but learned a couple tricks from you here, which are helpful. One question I have related to another video you produced is how well does the new Properties work with Smart Connections? Can you get better smart connection results if you populate YAML info at the top of your note? If so, what would be helpful?

[@abaoaweikago3092]

hmm for some reaseon the Smart Connection plugin isn't recognizing my Open API key and try to restart Obsidian and try new API keys with no luck

[@itsjohnmavrick]

hmm maybe they have a discord unfortunately im not the owner :(

[@pnddesign]

Top notch! thanks :)

[@itsjohnmavrick]

np 😉

[@WallyJ2K]

I added my API key, but it is not working and is not being recognized. Smart Connections API key is not working as expected. What do I do?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

im sorry to hear. i am not the developer of the plugin so i suggest you go to the smart connections or obsdian discord and ask for help :)

[@MaxCleary-z3k]

Really good video

[@itsjohnmavrick]

ty :)

[@craycruz1764]

Will this work with pdfs in obsidian too?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i don't think it does yet, :/ you would have to transfer highlights into a note

[@NuryPPanaligan]

Obsidian Vtuber? What!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

;)

[@jorgedavidfernandez9724]

Could you compare to Kagi?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

not sure what that is. could you explain?

[@renslaboratory16291]

I added the chat get custom frame but it only shows a blank window :((

[@endershteker90]

now it's really second brain

[@itsjohnmavrick]

yeah, its scary 🤯

[@jeffk8900]

Thanks!

[@itsjohnmavrick]

thank you as well :) out of curiosity, how are you interested in using ai in your notes?

[@luisnavarro880]

How much is it if I hire someone that knows how to program this?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

what do you mean by "this"?

[@nurulasanuri]

hellow anyone can help me please.. how to add the plugin to taskbar?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

what do you mean by taskbar? the one for your computer?

[@nurulasanuri]

@@itsjohnmavrick no, i mean that one, column on the left side obsidian interface. Sory my english so bad.🥲🙏

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@nurulasanuri help.obsidian.md/User+interface/Workspace/Ribbon

[@nurulasanuri]

@@itsjohnmavrick ahhh thats the name "ribbon" Thank buddy..!

[@101RealTalker]

I will this compare to Orca?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

I'm not sure what you are asking

[@101RealTalker]

@@itsjohnmavrick apologies for the typo, I meant to write HOW will this compare to Orca?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@101RealTalker i haven't tried orca so i am not sure, smartconnections uses openAI, you can watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqXChoGdbLKWnsk to see how orca performs in logic and common tests given to AI/humans, but I haven't seen anything for knowledge. it is close to or rivals GPT-4, despite being 1/10th of the size.

[@101RealTalker]

@@itsjohnmavrick Thanks for your response, yes, I saw that exact video, my only gripe with your plug in and smart connections is having to send my data to openai, hence my interest in Orca, being completely Offline, if there's a way to utilize a plug-in inside of Obsidian with the same context output, count Me In.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@101RealTalker i'm sure it will soon be created, will just have to wait, or maybe you can create it yourself haha

[@bst47k17]

The whole note taking process seems both tedious and time consuming and i question the utility of using an app like this are you using spaced repetition to learn things or meerly making notes for fun

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i make notes to understand as i learn and to remember things in traditional note taking sense

[@followthegood1]

Learnig note taking is more difficult than traditional note taking. In the end you will be having nothing to take notes on, but only note taking techniques. This is all bull shit . I never found any one using these to take notes . But everyone is using just to make notes on how to take notes. Its like buying all tools from hardware shops but not having thing to use them for. Every body is busy telling how to use tools .

[@rotiwokeman]

My brain is breaking, I can't get ChatGPT to interact with Obsidian. It's correclty installed, but it can't, for example, summarize something I've selected.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

look at pinned comment sorry, you have to paste it

[@rotiwokeman]

Ah thanks. I'm currently using the Smart Connections chat feature. Can the chat feature also find connections and insights across all your notes or all notes in a folder? Can it follow dates to figure out changes over time? The responses its given me so far are questionable.@@itsjohnmavrick

[@rotiwokeman]

I'm almost certain it's only looking at a single file when I ask it something like "Based on my notes, what are the top 10 most important takeaways." Basically everything it ever says it based on a single note in the folder, ignoring the dozens of other files.

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@rotiwokeman yeah that sounds a bit uneventful, maybe you might find more use in the simple list view that shows which files might be most related? at least with those you will have more variety in the sources it is pulling from?

[@rotiwokeman]

As someone with ADHD, that is a rabbit hole I dare not go down haha. However, I think I've figured out how to use this more effectively. Now it's a process of checking for facts and utilizing ChatGPT to offload some costs. About the former, I tried using the search function in Obsidian to see where it was pulling information, it's not the most effective. Do you have any videos specifically for this sort of task? Basically, using the search function to find the source of something like "John Doe invested $100M in XYZ on August 2, 2023"? I'd hate to feed my readers hallucinations.@@itsjohnmavrick

[@concretec0w]

Good idea but don't you think it'd be wiser to wait for privategpt to mature so you don't share all your data with microsoft?

[@itsjohnmavrick]

i personally don't care about my privacy as much as i should 😅 but yeah privateGPT would be much more relevant to Obsidian users since a big selling point of obsidian is the local storage and privacy

[@asfixespana6071]

What do you know about any project working with privateGPT and Obsidian? what is the performance of privateGPT vs GPT? \

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@asfixespana6071 haven't heard of anything so far

[@asfixespana6071]

@@itsjohnmavrick I have been using it... it's not good, can be useful to extract some text, but very little and it forgets many notes about that text

[@itsjohnmavrick]

@@asfixespana6071 thanks for sharing, guess its time to wait longer 😭