AI Chat Is Not All Bad

[easysurfer]

I did a Windows update recently and installed with the update is an icon on the lower right "Microsoft Copilot.' I guess it's their version of ChatGPT. I've been meaning to try out an AI Chat but never got around to that. So, I went ahead and asked MS Copilot a few questions to take for a spin and stump.

Then I decided to actually put the AI Chat to actual use. Occasionally, I have a need to update the profile picture of a Facebook group. But that can be a tedious thing to do getting a proper sized picture to fit that's decently viewable on a phone and computer. So, what I've done in the past was have to manual resize pictures and see if they fit or not.

So, in comes AI. I typed in sentence form, to tell MS Copilot to create a shell script using a Linux program I'm aware of, to create 10 photos for each picture in a directory, then resize it in the proper pixel size (numeric pixels) to fit Facebook.

The result, was 100% snap of the finger done without tweaking but overall good. It created the logic of code. I did not to fix though as the sequence of a ine of code was wrong. Yet, still a helpful experience.

Now, back to quizzing MS Copilot to ask which came first, the chicken or the egg .

 

[GrayHare]

I'm waiting for the version with Copiloty, a bouncy pop up image that looks like Airplane!'s autopilot. Even without, tools like that can offer a substantial increase in productivity. The danger is at some point we'll trust them so much as to not check what they create, thereby letting errors creep in.

 

[braumeister]

I'm waiting for the version with Copiloty, a bouncy pop up image that looks like Airplane!'s autopilot.

Something like this?

Hi! It looks like you're trying to trip me up by asking a question that results in a paradox.
Surely you're not so dimwitted that you think I'd fall for that?

 

[SecondAttempt]

I don't think the AI tools are bad but so far I have not found them that useful. So far almost everything I have asked about was either very simple and therefore a google search did just as well without all the words, or was rather obscure and I got pages of useless gobblety-gook back.

For example, I am doing genealogical research on my partner. We have strong evidence she is connected to Hawaiian royalty. Much of this is corroborated by a 3rd-ish cousin who is editor-in-chief of a major news organization that I am in contact with who did some deep research a few years ago. There is a key ancestor that I have asked ChatGPT, Bard, and Copilot about and all of them gave me pages of drivel and general information about the Hawaiian Kingdom but nothing useful. But I have found much more helpful and specific information through google.

I've also tried it for travel planning and am not very impressed.

 

[easysurfer]

I did a Windows update recently and installed with the update is an icon on the lower right "Microsoft Copilot.' I guess it's their version of ChatGPT. I've been meaning to try out an AI Chat but never got around to that. So, I went ahead and asked MS Copilot a few questions to take for a spin and stump.

Then I decided to actually put the AI Chat to actual use. Occasionally, I have a need to update the profile picture of a Facebook group. But that can be a tedious thing to do getting a proper sized picture to fit that's decently viewable on a phone and computer. So, what I've done in the past was have to manual resize pictures and see if they fit or not.

So, in comes AI. I typed in sentence form, to tell MS Copilot to create a shell script using a Linux program I'm aware of, to create 10 photos for each picture in a directory, then resize it in the proper pixel size (numeric pixels) to fit Facebook.

The result, was 100% snap of the finger done without tweaking but overall good. It created the logic of code. I did not to fix though as the sequence of a line of code was wrong. Yet, still a helpful experience.

Now, back to quizzing MS Copilot to ask which came first, the chicken or the egg .

Gosh, I hate typos. I meant to say in second to last paragraph:

The result, was not 100% snap of the finger done without tweaking but overall good. It created the logic of code. I did need to fix though as the sequence of a line of code was wrong. Yet, still a helpful experience.

 

[donheff]

MS Copilot is the Chat formerly known as Bing. It is based on Chat GPT4 (or some variant) that gives it access to current Internet info. Like all of the current LLM AI's, you need to proceed with caution and watch for lies (hallucinations) but it is pretty useful and getting better all the time. I use it in place of the manuals for all kinds of software used in astrophotography and Linux (which I don't use enough to keep up with). I find it great for that just like the OP found for a FB tweak. No more posting questions only to get RTFM or let me Google that for you.

I did post a question on a Linux forum a while back and got a "Let me Bing that for you" response with a smiley. The answer was spot on to the question.

 

[DayDreaming]

I write press releases for an organization that I work with. I find ChatGPT very useful for that - one thing it's really good at is grammar, and phrasing things in ways I wouldn't think of. So I come up with the basic text of what I want to say, and I'll tell ChatGPT to:
- revise this: "my text"
- again
- again

- make it longer
- make it shorter
- add something about "some idea"


It's never come up with something I can use completely as is, but it does give me a lot of good ideas to work with. Other than revising press releases, I haven't found anything else I can use it for.

 

[sengsational]

If you want to find out something that's likely to generate a lot of links to sales pitches or scams, the AI chat tools can save time and mental energy filtering through the cr*p.

 

[pb4uski]

I recently shifted from Google's Gemini AI (previously called Bard) to Perplexity.

I like Perplexity much better.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I've been using Copilot. I find that it is more useful to use it in audio mode. For some reason I just find the conversational element more useful than as a text replacement.

I have found that its useful on calls if you need to learn about something but can't be obvious about stepping away. I'm helping a friend think through a start-up. His engineer got into a spec that I hadn't heard of. In a side window I told Copilot to give me a brief summary of the spec and got a good two paragraph answer I could consume on the fly without derailing the call.

I've not ventured into having it do more complex things for me. I really just use it as a Q/A tool so far.

 

[braumeister]

I recently shifted from Google's Gemini AI (previously called Bard) to Perplexity.

I like Perplexity much better.

Same here.

 

[ERD50]

I've only tried AI once. I was just curious about our newly remodeled bathroom, and using the fan to exhaust the humidity from the shower. It made me think about just how much water is actually in the air.

So I turned to AI (Poe - because I came across it, don't know any more about it), gave it the room dimensions in feet, and asked how much added water is in the air if I go from 40% humidity to 70%, at 70F.

Interestingly, it seemed to understand exactly what I wanted, did the room volume calculations, converted them to cubic meters, then did the calculations on the delta of mass of water per cubic meter at those two RH% values.

But... it didn't take the last step of multiplying that delta times the room volume, even though it made the calculations for room volume. I thought that was odd, yet still extremely impressive that it parsed my language and almost got it all. "Tha-a-a-a-a-t close", as Maxwell Smart would say.

-ERD50

 

[donheff]

So far all the AI models struggle with math.

 

[easysurfer]

I've been using MS Copilot pretty often lately for some computer tech questions. Actually, it's been quite helpful for quick, to the point answers. I'm about name him "Roger" for the character in the movie "Airplane".