AI being helpful thread

   / AI being helpful thread #1  

scootr

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If you hadn't seen it under what did you break this week, the Eagle 6500 air compressor gave up the ghost while I was changing tires on the XT250. I'm no air compressor repairman. So I employed AI to diagnose the trouble using the make and model number, and description of the failure. I got exploded diagrams and a most probable diagnosis. Said I should change the check valve and gave me a part number and a link to purchase one. I did search around and found a cheaper one. I arrived with the correct part number. I swapped it a few minutes ago and Whala ! It works. Thanks AI
 
   / AI being helpful thread #2  
If you hadn't seen it under what did you break this week, the Eagle 6500 air compressor gave up the ghost while I was changing tires on the XT250. I'm no air compressor repairman. So I employed AI to diagnose the trouble using the make and model number, and description of the failure. I got exploded diagrams and a most probable diagnosis. Said I should change the check valve and gave me a part number and a link to purchase one. I did search around and found a cheaper one. I arrived with the correct part number. I swapped it a few minutes ago and Whala ! It works. Thanks AI
It didn't try to get you to install an intelligence module in the compressor so it could "help you monitor the system".... that's the first step in the machines taking over....
 
   / AI being helpful thread #3  
Was what you did something beyond a Google query? Guess I'm not very familiar with AI.
 
   / AI being helpful thread
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Was what you did something beyond a Google query? Guess I'm not very familiar with AI.
I think it is better than google although I see google is using AI. It went into full detail on testing motor and startup capacitor failure. I've used it when shopping (comparing) tires, motorcycles. Listing changes by year. Tons of information. Thought other people using it might share their experience here?
 
   / AI being helpful thread #5  
I have used it to track down obscure information occasionally, but for me, in those uses, it fails fairly often and comes back with wild hallucinations. As Reagan was want to say, "Trust, but verify".

My wife uses it daily for work and probably has tripled her productivity, as she uses it like a talented assistant, and the more she trains the assistant, the better the assistant gets.

I think that AI is a bit like sausage; once you know what goes into the making of it...I used to write "AI" code, and I think that the current versions are ok for routine items, like keeping a car between the lines, and not so great at rare things, like a flipped semi, or a kid chasing a ball into the street. I would bear in mind that very few people in the AI space have more than a few years of experience, and often not enough experience for much perspective. So, AI use for play is one thing in my book, not reliably ok for lots of other uses. Careful prompt engineering gets much, much better results from the current systems. I highly recommend taking several prompt engineering courses, if you are interested. If you do use AI, I think that the upgrade to pro versions often unlocks the space/tokens for more detailed and sophisticated prompts.

I would point out that AI agents (and AI browsers) are at this moment incredibly easy to hack/divert, and I would not trust an agent with access to any personal information until things improve. Personally, I think that is going to take a while, as I don't see initiatives under way that seem likely to me to improve the security or harden the agents and browsers against malicious items on the internet.

Be careful.

"Be afraid. Very afraid." - Jeff Goldblum, The Fly

"Remember, your mind is your greatest asset, so be careful what you put into it." - Robert Kiyosaki

Yes, crusty old fogey here.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / AI being helpful thread #6  
I'll second pony (not that he needs it :)), on the Trust, But Verify... prudent with most things, but esp. with new, complex tech.

I have my Dad's slide-rule, in this old desk..... was fluent with it (as a self-directed exercise, when A Pup), but haven't used it in decades. In the future, we may well look back @ the pre-AI days the same.....

One of the most interesting discussions I came across recently, concerning the bigger-issues, and longer arc of this tech, was here: (Diary of a CEO, Mo Gawdat). Transitions, esp. major ones, are often the biggest challenge (.... baton-pass, Relay Race, comes to mind).


Rgds, D.
 
   / AI being helpful thread #7  
I'm pretty skeptical of the Google AI. Last week I asked when daylight savings time ended and it told me last weekend (when it ended in Europe). I asked it if the local high school football team had a game and it told me it was playing another school. There was no game because they didn't make the playoffs.
 
   / AI being helpful thread #8  
The AI search results in Google only seem impressive because the regular results have gotten so awful. The AI results are about where the regular results were ten years ago or so. If you're old, you can remember a time when Google was like magic, you put in a search and 90% of the time the first hit would be exactly what your were looking for. Now you get pages and pages of garbage.

A story: yesterday, I couldn't remember what the federal width limit for trucks was. I did a Google search, and the AI assistant told me that in most states it's 8'6", but in some states it's 8.5 feet.
 
   / AI being helpful thread #9  
So, I have had the same job since 2018, and honestly the last job change, I didnt so the whole resume thing either, so probably last resume update was mid 2017. I revised it, had Chat clean it up a bit, and tailor it for a specific job ad, and yes, I did change the Chat version some, but its fast and good enough. Yes, you need to feed it to ge what you want out of it, but...

Wife has used it to make PowerPoint on a safety or whatever new policy they are required to push.

Ive thrown an aerial image of my property in it, to get fence layout ideas. Now, that case, it actually didnt scale right, and it thought I had over double the property that I do.
 
   / AI being helpful thread #10  
Ive heard my wife ask people "did you get Charles to help you write that" often, meaning ChatGPT, for everything from employe write ups, resumes, safety slides, ect. Is it perfect, Nope; is it often good enough, yep.

Ive started using Chat to ID unbranded auction and marketplace equipment, to get more info than "old bushhog" or "old tractor stuff?"
 

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