ChatGPT, AI

Intplm. · February 4

Have you used ChatGPT for your trade? How about AI? Recently a very new young apprentice gave me an answer he found using ChatGPT. The answer that he received was wrong.

Are these apps learning apps?

I am suspicious about this and or these technologies. Has anyone used it for installation procedures. Ive seen it used for calculation but not for installation of say plumbing or heating installations. What say you?

STEAM DOCTOR · February 4

Always got to double check everything that you see on AI. But certainly good for finding resources and things like that.

Robert_25 · February 4

AI is very powerful, but you have to know how to use it and it's limitations. If you ask AI a vague question, you will get a vague response - and hallucinations are something you need to be mindful of. Also consider that a lot of data available to AI might not be accurate.

e.g. if you ask AI where you should mount a circulator, AI is going to find a bunch of forum posts where people insist the circulator mounted on the boiler return.

If you ask the same question with a bit more context and tell AI to limit its sources to professional heating publications and boiler installation manuals, you will probably get a different result. The way you instruct AI is called the "Prompt", and the way you do it is critical to the result.

I took a free class called "Google AI Essentials" and I thought it was well worth my time. If nothing else, you can use AI to really speed up the creation of documents that are very similar, and it can be a big help with writing professional communications.

EdTheHeaterMan · February 4

I have user ChatGPT to edit some of my letters to make them sound either more official, or kinder, or friendlier. And that seems to work. Take an angry response to an email that you would like to send and have ChatGPT look at it and ask ChatGPT to make this sound friendly, and you get a great response that gives all the necessary information to that dummy and won't rub the recipient the wrong way.

Example:

What I want to send:

What the f are you thinking, you idiot, you can not put the check in the same envelope with the request. can't you follow instructions? it clearly states that you submit the request then wait for the response before you send the check. how stupid can you be? Wait for the response and then send the stupid check in the envelope provided for checks. Will you ever learn you moron? I am mailing your check back and maybe I might think about forwarding your request to the proper channel

What ChatGPT sent:

Hello,
I want to clarify an issue with the materials you sent.
The instructions require that the request be submitted first, and that you wait for a response before sending a check. The check should only be mailed after approval, using the envelope specifically provided for payments. Including the check with the initial request does not follow the required process.
Because of this, I will be returning your check to you. Once you receive a response to your request, you may then send the check in the appropriate envelope as directed.
Please be sure to follow the instructions carefully going forward, as this helps avoid delays and additional handling.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Regards,

I think AI is great for this stuff. It is what it is made for and has clearly learned how to communicate with idiots so they don't get their nose out of joint.

When it comes to technical topics, however, I’ve noticed that some of my own responses about heating equipment have been used by ChatGPT to answer questions for others. The system is constantly learning, but that creates a problem.

ChatGPT gathers information from many contributors across many websites, and it does not reliably distinguish between correct and incorrect answers. As a result, inaccurate information can be treated the same as accurate information and repeated as part of its responses.

Unless errors are clearly pointed out and corrected, ChatGPT may continue to absorb both correct and incorrect explanations as if they are equally valid.

So YES it is learning and it is not always correct.

EODagon · February 4

The biggest downside of using ChatGBT or any other AI. I feel like it tries to agree with what your asking. Like if you ask it a almost leading question it will try its best to confirm your side. So you really have to watch the way you word things.

Intplm. · February 4

@EdTheHeaterMan I hope you add that example to your book in a chapter maybe called, "Communication"

Thanks for that post. Im not using it. At least not yet.

GGross · February 4

I am curious to know what question the apprentice asked and what answer they got?

My opinion is that most install related questions are not great to trust with current public AI models. Think of a few very specific install related questions that you know the answer for and ask it, see if it gets it right. sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. then ask it do some math, I bet it gets that right. I'm not going to use my toaster as a replacement for a heat gun, it won't really work, but it toasts bread a whole lot easier than my heat gun would. learning how to leverage your tools in the correct way is a skill in itself that goes beyond the trades.

Intplm. · February 4

@GGross It was a few weeks ago. I don't remember the exact words but it was about a type of plumbing drainage issue that code requirements in my area did not allow for. I remember it was way off topic.

The problem for me is how impressionable some one so young, or any age can be, and take the word of ChatGBT with out questioning it.

ChrisJ · February 4

pecmsg · February 4

like everything else with a Computer garbage and garbage out.
Will it be a useful tool? I think it will be a I don’t see it replacing the tech with knowledge and brains and that gut feeling

RascalOrnery · February 4

Gut feeling is not always quantifiable.

AI seems great for data collection and some math related items. I think it will get a lot better. I'd rather talk to a human if possible.

The AI phone prompts ive used have worked great.

Larry Weingarten · February 4

Hmm, Ask 20 plumbers how to solder copper pipe and you'll get 25-30 answers. Wonder what AI would do with such diversity?

Yours, Larry

EdTheHeaterMan · February 4

I remember the first time I heard about "AI". I thought the comments were about basket ball player Allen Iverson. I was told that AI does not refer to basket ball. So it must be Artificial Insemination, Right". No it means Artificial Intelligence.

Oh really? Well I prefer Actual Intelligence over anything artificial …and that is hard to come by today!

pecmsg · February 4

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1886226#Comment_1886226

more than once my gut has told me there’s something else keep looking

ChatGPT, AI

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