28 Comments
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Dick Kashdin's avatar

Definitely not your writing. Article is too technical and has no personal touch which you always include.

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Moonmullens 1's avatar

What I don't like about AI is the old saying... garbage in, garbage out. AI spends more time including EVERYTHING that some information should be excluded in the summery but, it doesn't know it. Human intelligence does know what should be excluded and what should be included based on the date. Mike, you could find technology that would change the direction of your research and/or influence it. AI would not see that coming and will continue to include outdated information. I do my best to exclude reading the AI version of my research but it's getting harder to do. Humans need to keep communicating and AI can assist... not take the lead. Mike, you keep writing, I'll keep reading.

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Mike Sokol's avatar

Thanks…

I agree that AI is basically a smart parrot that won’t discover new concepts on its own. For example, a few months ago I had a brainstorm about why most people (and even technicians) believe that reverse polarity causes hot-skin voltage. It does not. However, a hot-ground voltage on shore power will cause a 3-light tester to falsely indicate reverse polarity. This was a confusion reversal between cause and effect.

So, I was able to merge concepts from my pro-audio testing world into my RV world. And I did this subconsciously, quite literally waking up with this new testing concept fully formed in my mind. I just had to build a tabletop demonstration to prove it to everyone else! https://rvelectricity.substack.com/p/updated-video-on-3-light-tester-failure

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Fred Broussard's avatar

Mike, excellent video on hot ground. Since the RV service panel is grounded to the frame, would a non-contact voltage tester alert you to resulting hot skin?

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Mike Sokol's avatar

Yes, a NCVT would be able to alert that there was a hot-skin voltage. If this hot-ground voltage resulted from a reflected hot-skin condition, the campground pedestal metal boxes on that loop beyond the EGC break would also have a hot-skin voltage, along with all the RVs plugged into them.

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Jim Z's avatar

A bit more robotic presentation structure, and again, your signature closing remark is missing.

Also, wouldn't you typically spell out terms like pure sine wave then give its acronym (PSW)?

But I am not so bold as to say ChatGPT could never fool me.

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May 16
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Jim Z's avatar

I think this was meant for slspillman

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Mike Sokol's avatar

Thanks… comment moved!

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Ken's avatar

Math is wrong. 100x12x.9 =1080, not 1280.

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Lucinda R Starr's avatar

I agree with Dick (below). Your articles are like you are talking directly to me. They have the personal touch! Mike, keep yours coming!

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Jim's avatar

I'm a "give me the facts" kind of guy so liked the presentation. I am using AI more and more and find it very helpful. I've used it for Bible study, calculating battery draw from electric cooler (I could have done that math), calculating how long it would take to air up an off-road Jeep tire based on tire size and pump CFM (not sure I know that calculation), recommended spare bolts for the same off-road Jeep, general health stuff, an outline for a eulogy for a good friend, workout plans, etc. I don't blindly take what it says as gospel, but it has been very accurate and has saved a lot of time. I use the free version of CoPilot and intend to try some others.

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Chris's avatar

Mike, maybe I missed it, was the question you asked ChatGPT, "To determine how many solar panels and lithium batteries you’ll need for a weekend of off-grid camping, “in the style of Mike Sokol”?

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Mike Sokol's avatar

Yes, exactly…

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Gary Stone's avatar

AI has been great helping me with sourdough bread recipe adjustments! 😁

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Randy Shrimplin's avatar

Better than last year but still not there. Last it contained a bunch of false info and contradicted itself. Also, last year the first paragraph was pretty long and said basically nothing which I found to be typical of the AI crap. Better but not there yet. " There is no "I" in AI."

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BOB Garbe's avatar

Small fan: 20W for 6 hours/day = 240Wh ?

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Mike Miles's avatar

I think AI is a good tool to quickly test ideas and verify that the bases are covered for a topic, but at best it can provide some info for a preliminary outline or rough draft. A real human author is needed to ensure that the result has appropriate and correct information, fits the intended reader's perspective, and is fun and interesting to read.

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Chuck Baier and Susan Landry's avatar

Mike, I think some folks might be just stroking you in this pole.

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Dean Lonning's avatar

I have 400 watts solar on my roof in bright sunlight and I never see mor than 190 watts generating. Why do they over rate the panels?

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Chris Crosswhite's avatar

One of the problems with AI is that you don't know if it's correct. However, I believe that the articles generated by AI can usually serve as a basis for a knowledgeable, responsible person to develop a reasonable article.

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Bob's avatar

As it's written, although it contains the facts it lacks any type of personality. Much to the point but, doesn't seem to accommodate that humans are not machines and formulas are just that formulas, real life isn't as cut and dry and daily life patterns vary fay to day.

If you only wanted a ballpark estimate for using solar it would be ok.

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slspillman123's avatar

Does AI pay you royalties or give credit to prevent plagiarism? What if you copyrighted the articles it drew from? Can I ask AI to give me all the information in your book, which I bought, and it will give it for free to anyone?

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Mike Sokol's avatar

AI won’t pay any royalties or residuals, and you can’t copyright a concept. I’m not worried about me so much as I am about movie and sitcom writers. Apparently movie producers are beginning to use AI in order to reduce or even eliminate writing staff.

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