does the usage of tools in assistants api cost the user?

Question

I am using function calling in my AI chatbot instead of using file search for data mining in my application using the assistants api. I got to know from my friend that using tools in assistant api is also chargeable. If so, Which one is better to use file search or function calling.

Answer 1

Giridhar Vinukonda Greetings & Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum!

I am using function calling in my AI chatbot instead of using file search for data mining in my application using the assistants api. I got to know from my friend that using tools in assistant api is also chargeable. If so, Which one is better to use file search or function calling.

There is no additional pricing or quota for using Assistants unless you use the code interpreter or file search tools. Any input/output tokens will be charged additionally apart from inference cost for assistant.

Code Interpreter has additional charges beyond the token based fees for Azure OpenAI usage. If your Assistant calls Code Interpreter simultaneously in two different threads, two code interpreter sessions are created. Each session is active by default for one hour.

Which one is better to use file search or function calling.

In terms of usage regarding code interpreter or file search for data mining in your application, it depends on your specific use case and requirements.

Function calling allows you to describe the structure of functions to an Assistant and then return the functions that need to be called along with their arguments.

File Search augments the Assistant with knowledge from outside its model, such as proprietary product information or documents provided by your users. OpenAI automatically parses and chunks your documents, creates and stores the embeddings, and use both vector and keyword search to retrieve relevant content to answer user queries.

Please refer to Azure OpenAI Assistants function calling and Azure OpenAI Assistants file search tool (Preview) for more information.

Do let me know if that helps or have any other queries.

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