diff --git a/phoebe/discord_bot.py b/phoebe/discord_bot.py
index 80be9e1..83e6c29 100644
--- a/phoebe/discord_bot.py
+++ b/phoebe/discord_bot.py
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
+import os
 import discord
-from train_gpt_model import process_message
-from gpt_model import load_model
 import torch
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
-import os
+from train_gpt_model import process_message
+from gpt_model import load_model
 
+# Load environment variables from .env file
 load_dotenv()
 
-# Discord bot token
+# Get the Discord bot token from environment variables
 TOKEN = os.getenv("DISCORD_TOKEN")
 
 # Load the vocabulary
diff --git a/phoebe/gpt_model.py b/phoebe/gpt_model.py
index e6e7034..13b22f1 100644
--- a/phoebe/gpt_model.py
+++ b/phoebe/gpt_model.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
-import os
 
 # Hyperparameters
 batch_size = 64
@@ -120,14 +119,11 @@ class GPT(nn.Module):
             loss = F.cross_entropy(logits, targets)
         return logits, loss
 
-    def generate(self, idx, max_new_tokens):
+    def generate(self, idx, max_new_tokens, temperature=1.0):
         for _ in range(max_new_tokens):
             idx_cond = idx[:, -block_size:]
             logits, _ = self(idx_cond)
-            print(f"Logits shape: {logits.shape}")  # Debug print
-            if logits.size(1) == 0:
-                raise ValueError("Logits tensor is empty.")
-            logits = logits[:, -1, :]
+            logits = logits[:, -1, :] / temperature
             probs = F.softmax(logits, dim=-1)
             idx_next = torch.multinomial(probs, num_samples=1)
             idx = torch.cat((idx, idx_next), dim=1)
@@ -136,27 +132,19 @@ class GPT(nn.Module):
 
 def encode(s, string_to_int):
     # Replace unknown characters with a special token (e.g., "<unk>")
-    encoded = []
-    for c in s:
-        if c in string_to_int:
-            encoded.append(string_to_int[c])
-        else:
-            print(f"Unknown character encountered during encoding: {c}")
-            encoded.append(string_to_int["<unk>"])
-    return encoded
+    return [string_to_int.get(c, string_to_int["<unk>"]) for c in s]
 
 
 def decode(lst, int_to_string):
     return "".join([int_to_string[i] for i in lst])
 
 
-def load_model(vocab_size, model_path="phoebe_model.pt"):
+def load_model(vocab_size, model_path=None):
     model = GPT(vocab_size)
-    if os.path.exists(model_path):
-        model.load_state_dict(
-            torch.load(model_path, map_location=torch.device("cpu"))
-        )
-        print("Model loaded successfully.")
-    else:
-        print("No pre-trained model found. Initialized a new model.")
+    if model_path:
+        try:
+            model.load_state_dict(torch.load(model_path))
+            print("Model loaded successfully.")
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            print("No pre-trained model found. Initialized a new model.")
     return model
diff --git a/phoebe/train_gpt_model.py b/phoebe/train_gpt_model.py
index 27ad604..fc07fd6 100644
--- a/phoebe/train_gpt_model.py
+++ b/phoebe/train_gpt_model.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+import re
 import torch
+import torch.optim as optim
 import random
+import os
 from gpt_model import encode, decode, load_model
 
 device = torch.device("cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
@@ -7,10 +10,11 @@ device = torch.device("cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
 # Hyperparameters
 batch_size = 64
 block_size = 256
-max_iters = 3000
-learning_rate = 2e-4
-eval_iters = 250
+max_iters = 5000
+learning_rate = 1e-5  # Adjusted learning rate
+eval_iters = 100
 dropout = 0.2
+patience = 500  # Number of iterations to wait for improvement before stopping
 
 # Load the vocabulary and encoded data
 with open("vocab.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
@@ -32,12 +36,25 @@ vocab_size = len(chars)
 string_to_int = {ch: i for i, ch in enumerate(chars)}
 int_to_string = {i: ch for i, ch in enumerate(chars)}
 
-# Load and preprocess training and validation data from .txt files
-with open("train_split.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-    train_data = f.read()
 
-with open("eval_split.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-    val_data = f.read()
+def clean_text(text):
+    """Remove special characters and unwanted symbols from the text."""
+    text = re.sub(r"[^a-zA-Z0-9\s.,;!?\'\"]+", "", text)
+    text = re.sub(r"\s+", " ", text)
+    text = text.strip()
+    return text
+
+
+# Load and preprocess training and validation data from cleaned .txt files
+def load_and_clean_data(file_path):
+    with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        text = f.read()
+    cleaned_text = clean_text(text)
+    return cleaned_text
+
+
+train_data = load_and_clean_data("train_split_cleaned.txt")
+val_data = load_and_clean_data("eval_split_cleaned.txt")
 
 train_data = torch.tensor(encode(train_data, string_to_int), dtype=torch.long)
 val_data = torch.tensor(encode(val_data, string_to_int), dtype=torch.long)
@@ -58,7 +75,17 @@ def get_batch(data, block_size, batch_size):
     return x, y
 
 
-model = load_model(vocab_size).to(device)
+def load_or_initialize_model(vocab_size):
+    model = load_model(vocab_size)
+    if os.path.exists("phoebe_model.pt"):
+        model.load_state_dict(torch.load("phoebe_model.pt"))
+        print("Model loaded from phoebe_model.pt")
+    else:
+        print("Initialized a new model")
+    return model
+
+
+model = load_or_initialize_model(vocab_size).to(device)
 
 
 @torch.no_grad()
@@ -78,7 +105,11 @@ def estimate_loss():
 
 
 def train_model():
-    optimizer = torch.optim.AdamW(model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate)
+    optimizer = optim.AdamW(model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate)
+    scheduler = optim.lr_scheduler.StepLR(optimizer, step_size=1000, gamma=0.1)
+    best_val_loss = float("inf")
+    patience_counter = 0
+
     for iter in range(max_iters):
         if iter % eval_iters == 0:
             losses = estimate_loss()
@@ -86,15 +117,31 @@ def train_model():
                 f"step {iter}: train loss {losses['train']:.3f}, "
                 f"val loss {losses['val']:.3f}"
             )
+
+            # Check for improvement in validation loss
+            if losses["val"] < best_val_loss:
+                best_val_loss = losses["val"]
+                patience_counter = 0
+                torch.save(model.state_dict(), "phoebe_model.pt")
+                print("Model Saved!")
+            else:
+                patience_counter += eval_iters
+
+            # Early stopping
+            if patience_counter >= patience:
+                print("Early stopping triggered.")
+                break
+
         xb, yb = get_batch(train_data, block_size, batch_size)
         logits, loss = model(xb, yb)
         optimizer.zero_grad(set_to_none=True)
         loss.backward()
         optimizer.step()
+        scheduler.step()
 
-    print(loss.item())
-    torch.save(model.state_dict(), "phoebe_model.pt")
-    print("Model Saved!")
+    if patience_counter < patience:
+        print("Training completed without early stopping.")
+    print(f"Final loss: {loss.item()}")
 
 
 def check_input_chars(s, string_to_int):
@@ -124,7 +171,7 @@ def process_message(message):
         print("Message could not be processed.")  # Debug print
         return "Message could not be processed."
 
-    response = model.generate(encoded_text, max_new_tokens=50)
+    response = model.generate(encoded_text, max_new_tokens=50, temperature=0.7)
     decoded_response = decode(response[0].tolist(), int_to_string)
     print(f"Generated response: '{decoded_response}'")  # Debug print
     return decoded_response