diff --git a/smartassist/src/backend.py b/smartassist/src/backend.py
index 364ce09..3ea3cf5 100644
--- a/smartassist/src/backend.py
+++ b/smartassist/src/backend.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from ollama import Client
 from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
 from flask_cors import CORS, cross_origin # CORS stands for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. This is necessary to allow the frontend to make requests to our backend.
-#import requests
+import requests
 #import threading
 
 # Initialize a Flask application
@@ -27,12 +27,29 @@ def chat():
     data = request.get_json()
     message = data.get('query')
 
-    if message:
-        # response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434', json={"model": "llama3",'prompt': message})
-        response = request.post('http://localhost:11434', json={"model": "llama3",'prompt': message})
+    print(f"data = {data}\nmessage = {message}")
+
+    try:
+        response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434/api/generate', 
+                                 json={
+                                     "model": "mannix/llama3-8b-ablitered-v3:latest",
+                                     'prompt': message,
+                                     "stream": False})
+        response.raise_for_status()  # Raise an exception for bad status codes
         return jsonify({'response': response.json().get('result')})
-    else:
-        return jsonify({'error': 'No query provided'}), 400
+    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
+        print(f"Request Exception: {e}")
+        return jsonify({'error': 'Failed to process request'}), 500
+    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+        print(f"JSON Decode Error: {e}")
+        return jsonify({'error': 'Invalid JSON response from server'}), 500
+    
+    # if message:
+    #     # response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434', json={"model": "llama3",'prompt': message})
+    #     response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434', json={"model": "llama3",'prompt': message})
+    #     return jsonify({'response': response.json().get('result')})
+    # else:
+    #     return jsonify({'error': 'No query provided'}), 400
 
 
 @app.route('/smartassist', methods=["POST"])