Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent some time exploring Boodle Box AI. What I wanted Boodle Box to be was a solution for an organization to deploy AI with Knowledge Banks, and enable that organization to sell custom Bot (or GPTs) to other organizations or users. Essentially, I wanted a “local AI” that was hosted by a business that could handle selling access to others while safeguarding proprietary Knowledge Bank files and information. Tiered access would give people access to solutions a team developed.

I have not yet found a solution, but Boodle Box’s deployment of multiple AI models helped me think more deeply about this. I offer this checklist, not as a critique of Boodle Box, but rather a way to improve their product. I appreciate their hard work in this field and apologize in advance if any of my remarks are inaccurate, incorrect, or unkind.

My Background

I am an AI user. I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to use these tools to enhance my work, and experienced success measured in time-saving and using AI as a thought partner. I know some people object to the use of AI but as a professional blogger, I find AI tools invaluable.

So, that experience, briefly summarized below, is the perspective from where I explore Boodle Box. I’ve spent serious time exploring a variety of prompt designs and generating content with several other AI tools, including:

• Perplexity Pro – This is my favorite AI tool. It was put aside for a short time as I jumped into ChatGPT Pro Custom GPT creation, but my experience with Boodle Box designing custom Bots helped me identify some of my workflow stumbles. I feel very comfortable with Perplexity Pro and that it offers unique features. However, it’s not perfect, and I’ll be writing a blog entry about them from my perspective.
• Claude Pro – Claude Pro has so much potential to be great (e.g. Projects, Artifacts) but it let me down in terms of usage limits (running out of tokens!) that left me waiting hours to use it again in a middle of a project (several times!). I reported this to Claude but who knows if they saw it or could do anything about it. Another limit? Web search. Having to bring in everything you want Claude to look at is nuts.
• ChatGPT Pro – OpenAI is one of the big frontier AI tools for the simple reason that it works fairly well. It’s Custom GPT wizard is solid, and is the best in my opinion. However, the confusing list of models (simplify a la Jobs, people!) just gets in the way.

I’d like to say that I’ve spent equal time on Google’s Gemini, MS Co-Pilot, but I never know what version I’m using, even when I’m paying. When I paid for Gemini, I got a lousy AI tool, and it’s clear that Google and Microsoft are trying to integrate AI (which I don’t want) into their entire tool suite. It’s not worth putting up with ads either. As a result, I continue to be disappointed by Google and Microsoft’s efforts with AI. Eventually, they may get better.

For now, I prefer tools like Perplexity Pro (including Spaces) and ChatGPT Pro Custom GPTs. I pay for both tools out of my own pocket, but will eventually settle on one that offers what I most need in my own personal workflow. I have access to other paid AI tools as part of my work.

Boodle Box

This brings me to Boodle Box. I’ve so wanted Boodle Box to be a Perplexity Pro or ChatGPT Pro replacement. But the models it offers fall short of what frontier models can do. That’s not to say Boodle AI isn’t worth investing in for beginners. I would agree with this assessment:

Boodle Box AI provides a versatile platform with both free and paid options that aggregate popular models from multiple providers. While its free tier is competitive for casual users or basic tasks, the paid tier offers less customization and advanced features compared to native Pro accounts from providers like OpenAI or Anthropic. Users seeking cutting-edge features like multimodal capabilities or extended context handling may find greater value in subscribing directly to those providers’ platforms.

The Checklist

After thinking about it some more, I thought it would be worthwhile to compile my questions about Boodle Box into a checklist for improvement that I can add to over time. Right now, Boodle Box is a hot mess of models and Bots. They are clearly in transition to something better (and that’s important to acknowledge). At this point, they are a worthwhile investment if you want to play with lots of models, including text to image generators, without getting TOO deep into it. Again, this may reflect my bias from having worked with other tools.

Here’s the updated and reorganized checklist incorporating the need for more sophisticated features like multimodal capabilities, advanced context handling, and cutting-edge model integrations. The categories have been refined for clarity and alignment with the provided information.

Boodle Box AI Optimization Checklist

Bot Creation & Tiered Management

• Implement consistent model access between folder chats and standalone bots.
• Develop mobile apps for iOS and Android.
• Clarify Knowledge Bank access scope (bot-specific vs global) Blog reference.
• Add support for multimodal capabilities (e.g., text, images, audio, video) in select models.
• Create guest access system for free model usage.
• Implement a model toggle system (Free/Premium tiers with auto-adjust).
• Design automatic model switching based on user authentication or account status.
• Develop usage-based billing alerts for premium features.
• Create hybrid bot templates (free/premium combo) that dynamically adjust based on user needs.
• Expand integration of advanced context-handling models (e.g., Claude 3 Opus with 100k tokens).

K-12 Education Features

• Display pre-made educator bot templates in a menu style (similar to TeacherServer/MagicSchool).
• Create an administrator dashboard with usage analytics and reporting tools.
• Build a curriculum-aligned or role-based bot repository (e.g., Teacher, Administrator, Student).
• Implement one-click deployment of bots for classroom scenarios, including pre-configured settings.

UI/UX Improvements

• Rename “Favorite this bot” to “Favorite this chat” in contextual menus.
• Rework the interface to simplify navigation and reduce user friction.
• Create visual distinctions between bot interfaces and chat interfaces for better usability.
• Add clearer labeling of free vs. premium models in the interface.

Model Infrastructure

• Expand chatbot integrations to include more cutting-edge models (e.g., DeepSeek-R1, Claude 3.5 Haiku, Gemini 1.0 Pro).
• Establish a clear free-tier model stack (e.g., ChatGPT 4o-mini, Claude 3.5 Haiku, Gemini 1.0 Pro).
• Develop a premium model tier that includes advanced options like ChatGPT 4o, Claude Opus/Sonnet, and Gemini 2.0 Flash.
• Add multi-model image generation support (e.g., FLUX Pro, Stable Diffusion SDXL).
• Introduce multimodal support for premium models (e.g., Gemini 2.0 Flash with text, image, and video capabilities).

File Management in Knowledge Banks

• Standardize file upload requirements across all supported formats.
• Enable Markdown file uploads without requiring a .txt extension.
• Add Knowledge Bank export functionality with custom instructions (ZIP format).
• Allow folder organization based on ZIP file upload or GUI-based drag-and-drop interface.
• Create a unified document preview system for all file types.
• Implement batch upload and processing features for Knowledge Bank content.
• Add support for webp image format uploads.

Advanced Features to Explore

These are additional cutting-edge features that could elevate Boodle Box AI:

1. Multimodal Capabilities: Support models like Gemini 2.0 Flash that handle text, images, audio, and video inputs/outputs seamlessly.
2. Extended Context Windows: Integrate models like Claude Opus with long-context handling (100k tokens or more).
3. Dynamic Model Selection: Allow bots to dynamically switch between free-tier and premium-tier models based on task complexity or user preferences.

What are your thoughts? For the AI resistance, I understand your reluctance. I share some of those concerns. However, I do think it’s worth getting into using AI tools like Boodle Box and others to better appreciate what they offer.