Building an Interactive Investment Calculator with AI – No Coding Skills Needed!

Introduction: In today's rapidly evolving world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is empowering non-coders to build sophisticated tools with ease. Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, LLAMA, and FinBert are leading the charge, enabling users to create interactive applications like calculators without any technical knowledge. In this blog, I’ll walk you through how I built an Investment Calculator using just AI and how LLMs handle all the complexity behind the scenes.

Why LLMs Like ChatGPT Are a Game Changer: Traditionally, building an interactive tool like a financial calculator required programming skills in HTML, JavaScript, or other languages. But now, LLMs can handle all of that for you, turning plain language instructions into working code. LLMs not only understand the functionality you want to achieve but also ensure that critical aspects like user experience, design elements, and logic are taken care of automatically. Here's how this process works:

1. Understanding User Intent: The first thing LLMs do is understand what you're trying to achieve. In my case, I wanted to create an Investment Calculator. By simply describing the key input fields and functionality, the model generates a fully working HTML calculator with features like sliders, text boxes, and a reset button.
2. Handling Complex Calculations with Ease: One of the key challenges in building any financial tool is ensuring accurate calculations. LLMs like ChatGPT or FinBert are proficient in handling complex calculations, such as compound interest, without any errors. All I needed to do was describe the logic (e.g., "recalculate the growth using compound interest") and the model took care of the rest. No need to worry about the backend code or formulas – the LLM generates it for you!
3. Building a User-Friendly Interface: Creating a user interface with sliders for deposits, investment periods, and return rates, all without coding? Yes! The LLMs automatically provide HTML and JavaScript to build a clean, responsive, and intuitive user interface. The model even includes details like color-coded bar charts for visualizing deposits and returns. It ensures a seamless user experience while I focus on the high-level design.
4. Emphasizing Flexibility and Customization: LLMs are incredibly flexible, meaning you can tweak the instructions as much as you like. Want to adjust the currency from Euros to Indian Rupees? Simply tell the model to change the range and format of the values, and it handles everything in the background. It’s amazing how versatile these models can be in real-world applications!
5. LLM Powerhouses: ChatGPT, LLAMA, FinBert: Different LLMs have specialized capabilities that make them useful in unique scenarios:

Example: Building My Investment Calculator Let’s dive into the example. I asked an LLM to generate the code for an interactive Investment Calculator with sliders for:

• One-time deposit
• Monthly deposit
• Investment period
• Return rate

I didn’t need to know how to code. The LLM provided a fully functional HTML calculator by simply following the instructions I gave it. It also handled recalculations, reset functionality, and even created a beautiful stacked bar chart to visualize the results.

Here’s a snippet of how easy the instructions were:

One-time deposit (slider & small text box, range: ₹0 - ₹1,00,000, steps: ₹1,000)
Monthly deposit (slider & small text box, range: ₹0 - ₹10,000, steps: ₹250)
Investment period (slider & small text box, range: 1-50 years, steps: 1 year)
Return rate in % (slider & small text box, range: 1-20%, steps: 1%)        

The following are the instructions I provided and the output from the ChatGPT.

From this, the LLM automatically created a user-friendly calculator that I could embed into a html page. Imagine how long it would have taken without LLMs!

Conclusion: The future of development is here, and it’s powered by AI. LLMs like ChatGPT, LLAMA, and FinBert take care of the complex and technical aspects of building tools, enabling anyone, regardless of their coding background, to create sophisticated applications. This Investment Calculator is just one example of how LLMs are democratizing development for everyone.

If you’ve ever thought about building tools but felt limited by your coding knowledge, now is the time to leverage the power of LLMs. Let’s build the future together!

Call to Action: Want to try this yourself? Get started with an LLM like ChatGPT and see how easy it is to build your own custom tools. The possibilities are endless!