OpenAI `function calling` to enforce reply format/schema

In July 2023, OpenAI introduced function calling - a feature that underpins ChatGPT's plugin ecosystem.

What I found particularly useful was not the capability to run external APIs and embed the responses into conversations... But the promise that new models have been tuned to return structured data:

These models have been fine-tuned to both detect when a function needs to be called (depending on the user’s input) and to respond with JSON that adheres to the function signature. Function calling …

ai api apis capability chatgpt conversations data ecosystem embed feature format found function openai plugin promptengineering responses schema structured data