Whether we like it or not, AI has quickly become commonplace and that is because it is useful. Even those of us with serious ethical and practical concerns have to admit that there is real convenience in being able to pull a smartphone out of your pocket, ask a question, and get a pretty decent AI response in seconds. But what if you have a restrictive data plan? Or don’t have a smartphone at all? What if you’re still using a 20-year-old Motorola Razr? The solution is LennoxLow’s DIY SMS AI chatbot.
TETHER is a small device intended to sit unobtrusively on a shelf in the user’s home. There, it simply waits until it receives a text message from its user. When it does, it passes the query along to ChatGPT over the internet. Once it gets it response from ChatGPT, it sends that as a text message back to the user. It can also add some snarky quips, which is perfect for those of us who read too many LitRPG novels and expect our AIs to sass us.
This is, of course, an incredibly niche device and most people won’t need it, because they can simply communicate with the AI of their choice directly through their smartphone. But it does make sense for certain situations, like when data usage is a concern, the cell connectivity is poor, or the phone is outdated. The phone in this scenario is only sending and receiving SMS messages, which even an old Razr can handle.
The TETHER device contains two key components in its 3D-printed enclosure: an ESP32 development board and a A7670SA GSM module. Anyone building this will need to see if they can use that same GSM module or if another type of cellular modem is necessary for their region/service. That module gets a dedicated SIM card, which needs to be active. That is necessary for TETHER to send and receive text messages.
From there, setting up TETHER is as simple as supplying power, adding a ChatGPT API key, and flashing the Arduino code.
And as a bonus, TETHER will respond to any text messages it receives — they don’t have to come from your phone number. So, the next time someone at the bar hounds you for your phone number, you can give them TETHER’s number. That should keep the thirsty Don Juan occupied for a while.
