The beginning of our AI journey
Every great innovation begins with a first step, and for Szymdows AI, that step came in the form of our very first model — a small but meaningful experiment that would set the foundation for everything we would go on to build. This early creation wasn’t a massive, state-of-the-art system trained on millions of GPUs. It wasn’t even designed for high-stakes commercial deployment. Instead, it was something more humble, yet incredibly important: a proof of concept that showed the potential of bringing AI directly into the hands of our users.
The model itself was a simple chatbot that lived on our website. Rather than being built from scratch — which would have required significant resources and expertise we were only beginning to develop — we connected it to a lightweight hosted model. This allowed us to focus on creating an interactive, user-friendly experience while still benefiting from a functioning AI core. Visitors could ask it questions, explore its capabilities, and get responses in real time, all without needing to understand the complex technology operating behind the scenes.
What made this first version special wasn’t raw power, but accessibility. We wanted something that could start conversations, not just process data. It had a single, clear mission: to make our website feel alive, like a place you could interact with rather than simply read. In doing so, it brought a touch of personality to the Szymdows brand. Even though the responses were sometimes basic and the knowledge limited, the fact that it could respond instantly to a wide variety of queries fascinated our visitors — and us.
From a technical standpoint, the setup was straightforward, but it was our first real taste of what AI could mean for our projects. We experimented with different prompt formats, adjusted the chatbot’s style, and learned how users tended to interact with it. These early lessons proved invaluable later on, influencing the design of our more advanced models. We began to see firsthand the importance of balancing capability with user experience — and how even small changes in wording or structure could make a huge difference in engagement.
Looking back, this first model might seem primitive compared to the systems we run today. It lacked deep contextual understanding, couldn’t retain information across long conversations, and had no specialized training in our projects or mission. But it wasn’t meant to be perfect — it was meant to prove that AI could have a meaningful role on our website. And it did exactly that. It became a conversation starter, a demonstration tool, and, most importantly, the seed from which our future innovations would grow.
In many ways, it was like the first brick in a towering structure. Without it, there would be nothing to build on. The excitement it generated within our team and among our users reminded us why we were pursuing AI in the first place: to create technology that people can interact with, learn from, and enjoy. While our journey has since taken us into vastly more complex territory, the lessons from that small, hosted chatbot remain with us. It was the spark that ignited the flame of Szymdows AI, and we’ll always look back on it as the beginning of everything.