diff --git a/textgrad/tasks/base.py b/textgrad/tasks/base.py
index 059473e..b71082d 100644
--- a/textgrad/tasks/base.py
+++ b/textgrad/tasks/base.py
@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@ def __getitem__(self):
     @abstractmethod
     def __len__(self):
         pass
-    
-    @abstractmethod
-    def get_default_task_instruction(self):
-        pass
+
 
 class DataLoader:
     def __init__(self, data, batch_size=32, shuffle=True):
diff --git a/textgrad/variable.py b/textgrad/variable.py
index eeb997e..01b9020 100644
--- a/textgrad/variable.py
+++ b/textgrad/variable.py
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ def __init__(
             raise Exception("If the variable does not require grad, none of its predecessors should require grad."
                             f"In this case, following predecessors require grad: {_predecessor_requires_grad}")
         
-        assert type(value) in [str, bytes], "Value must be a string or image (bytes)."
+        assert type(value) in [str, bytes, int], "Value must be a string, int, or image (bytes). Got: {}".format(type(value))
+        if isinstance(value, int):
+            value = str(value)
         # We'll currently let "empty variables" slide, but we'll need to handle this better in the future.
         # if value == "" and image_path == "":
         #    raise ValueError("Please provide a value or an image path for the variable")