diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4244f47..a95b25f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ __pycache__
 #user files
 .env
 .vscode
+*.sqlite
 bot.pid
 usage.txt
 /dalleimages
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cogs/gpt_3_commands_and_converser.py b/cogs/gpt_3_commands_and_converser.py
index cd12ecf..c1822ef 100644
--- a/cogs/gpt_3_commands_and_converser.py
+++ b/cogs/gpt_3_commands_and_converser.py
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
                 ctx = self.redo_users[after.author.id].ctx
                 await response_message.edit(content="Redoing prompt 🔄...")
 
-                edited_content = after.content
+                edited_content = await self.mention_to_username(after, after.content)
 
                 if after.channel.id in self.conversation_threads:
                     # Remove the last two elements from the history array and add the new <username>: prompt
@@ -706,7 +706,7 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
                 if not user_api_key:
                     return
 
-            prompt = content
+            prompt = await self.mention_to_username(message, content)
 
             await self.check_conversation_limit(message)
 
@@ -788,6 +788,18 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
         response_text = response_text.replace("<|endofstatement|>", "")
         return response_text
 
+    async def mention_to_username(self, ctx, message):
+        if not discord.utils.raw_mentions(message):
+            return message
+        else:
+            for mention in discord.utils.raw_mentions(message):
+                try:
+                    user = await discord.utils.get_or_fetch(ctx.guild, 'member', mention)
+                    message = message.replace(f"<@{str(mention)}>", user.display_name)
+                except:
+                    pass
+            return message           
+
     # ctx can be of type AppContext(interaction) or Message
     async def encapsulated_send(
         self,
@@ -969,12 +981,8 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
                 response_text = response_text.strip()
                 response_text = f"***{prompt}***\n\n{response_text}"
 
-            # If GPT3 tries to ping somebody, don't let it happen
-            if re.search(r"<@!?\d+>|<@&\d+>|<#\d+>", str(response_text)):
-                message = "I'm sorry, I can't mention users, roles, or channels."
-                await ctx.send_followup(message) if from_context else await ctx.reply(
-                    message
-                )
+            # If gpt3 tries writing a user mention try to replace it with their name
+            response_text = await self.mention_to_username(ctx, response_text)
 
             # If the user is conversing, add the GPT response to their conversation history.
             if (
@@ -1018,9 +1026,12 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
                     custom_api_key=custom_api_key,
                 )
 
-            # Cleanse
+            # Cleanse again
             response_text = self.cleanse_response(response_text)
 
+            # escape any other mentions like @here or @everyone
+            response_text = discord.utils.escape_mentions(response_text)
+
             # If we don't have a response message, we are not doing a redo, send as a new message(s)
             if not response_message:
                 if len(response_text) > self.TEXT_CUTOFF:
@@ -1155,7 +1166,7 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
         presence_penalty: float,
     ):
         user = ctx.user
-        prompt = prompt.strip()
+        prompt = await self.mention_to_username(ctx, prompt.strip())
 
         user_api_key = None
         if USER_INPUT_API_KEYS:
@@ -1236,6 +1247,9 @@ class GPT3ComCon(discord.Cog, name="GPT3ComCon"):
             )
             return
 
+        if opener:
+            opener = await self.mention_to_username(ctx, opener)
+
         if not opener and not opener_file:
             user_id_normalized = user.id
         else:
diff --git a/cogs/image_prompt_optimizer.py b/cogs/image_prompt_optimizer.py
index 476a48e..0533c90 100644
--- a/cogs/image_prompt_optimizer.py
+++ b/cogs/image_prompt_optimizer.py
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ class ImgPromptOptimizer(discord.Cog, name="ImgPromptOptimizer"):
         user = ctx.user
 
         final_prompt = self.OPTIMIZER_PRETEXT
-        final_prompt += prompt
+        # replace mentions with nicknames for the prompt
+        final_prompt += await self.converser_cog.replace_mention(ctx, prompt)
 
         # If the prompt doesn't end in a period, terminate it.
         if not final_prompt.endswith("."):
@@ -100,12 +101,8 @@ class ImgPromptOptimizer(discord.Cog, name="ImgPromptOptimizer"):
             # also relatively cost-effective
 
             response_text = response["choices"][0]["text"]
-
-            if re.search(r"<@!?\d+>|<@&\d+>|<#\d+>", response_text):
-                await ctx.respond(
-                    "I'm sorry, I can't mention users, roles, or channels."
-                )
-                return
+            # escape any mentions
+            response_text = discord.utils.escape_mentions(response_text)
 
             # If the response_message is > 75 words, concatenate to the last 70th word
             # TODO Temporary workaround until prompt is adjusted to make the optimized prompts shorter.