From Zero to Chatbot: Create Your Own AI Assistant with Python

About this talk

The development of a local AI chatbot using Python is explored step by step. It begins with setting up the environment and loading a compact open-source language model, then guides through creating a structured interaction loop to process input and generate responses. Prompts are designed, conversational context is managed with a rolling history, and a lightweight memory component is added to maintain coherent multi-turn interactions. A short introduction to agentic behaviour illustrates how simple decision-making and task handling can make a chatbot more autonomous. By the end, a fully functional chatbot is built, with a clear understanding of its main components and how they work together.