Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Practical Electronics Editorial offices Electron Publishing (Aust.) Tel +61 2 9939 3295 Unit 1, 234 Harbord Road Email pe<at>pemag.au Brookvale NSW 2100 Web www.electronpublishing.com Australia Address mail to: Electron Publishing (Australia) PO Box 194, Matraville NSW 2036 Australia Advertising enquiries +61 2 9939 3295 pe<at>pemag.au Editor Nicholas Vinen Publisher Nicholas Vinen Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 01202 880299 Online Editor Alan Winstanley Web Systems Kris Thain Production Bao Smith Technical staff Tim Blythman, John Clarke Print subscriptions Practical Electronics Subscriptions PO Box 6337 Bournemouth BH1 9EH Tel 01202 087631 United Kingdom Email pesubs<at>selectps.com Volume 54. No. 2 February 2025 ISSN 2632 573X Editorial AI is incredible but still in its infancy Over the last few months, including in this issue, we have had quite a few columns that mention how widespread artificial intelligence (AI) has become. In some cases, like the dehumidifier that Alan Winstanley describes in this month’s Net Work column, the use of the term AI is quite dubious. I suspect that the word “AI” is often simply slapped onto a product to make it seem more trendy. It was OpenAI who really brought on the modern AI era with their introduction of ChatGPT (ironically based on technology developed by Google, who are now working very hard to compete with OpenAI). In many ways, ChatGPT remains the most spectacular implementation of AI, especially in its latest 4o guise. I’ve noticed in the last month or so that ChatGPT has gotten a lot better at running web searches to find information that’s outside its immediate knowledge. Technical enquiries We regret that technical enquiries cannot be answered over the telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation or modification of designs published in the magazine. Questions about articles or projects should be sent to the editor by email: pe<at>pemag.au Projects and circuits All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it. Some projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics employ voltages that can be lethal. Do not build, test, modify or fix any mains-powered equipment unless you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an RCD (GFCI) adaptor. Component supplies Silicon Chip Publications may offer kits or other parts for making our projects, but not in all cases. When kits are not available, readers will need to find and source parts themselves. We advise readers to check that all parts are still available before commencing any project in a back-dated issue. Advertisements Although the proprietors and staff of Practical Electronics take reasonable precautions to protect the interests of readers by ensuring as far as practicable that advertisements are bona fide, the magazine and its publishers cannot give any undertakings in respect of statements or claims made by advertisers, whether these advertisements are printed as part of the magazine, or in inserts. The Publishers regret that under no circumstances will the magazine accept liability for non-receipt of goods ordered, or for late delivery, or for faults in manufacture. Transmitters/bugs/telephone equipment We advise readers that certain items of radio transmitting and telephone equipment which may be advertised in our pages cannot be legally used in the UK. Readers should check the law before buying any transmitting or telephone equipment, as a fine, confiscation of equipment and/or imprisonment can result from illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country; readers should check local laws. 2 Even more impressively, you can converse with it like you would another person. It doesn’t just generate dry text – it can talk to you with nuances in its ‘voice’, even joining in if you start singing! While you can argue about how far off artificial general intelligence (AGI) is, and indeed whether it can ever be achieved, I think it’s already very close to passing the Turing Test. It may even already be capable of doing so. The main thing that gives AI away is that I can recognise its writing style. Still, that’s no different from a real person, I suppose. What’s really holding it back is the fact that it’s difficult to trust. For example, let’s say you’re working on a book. You feed what you’ve written into ChatGPT and ask it to tidy it up and improve it for you. It’s very capable of doing that sort of job. But could you publish the result without checking it very carefully? I think you would have to read through and check everything it produced, lest it introduce nonsense in the middle – ­ something it is still prone to doing. Until that can be solved, it will have to be relegated to the role of advisor, something that it is actually very good at. Nicholas Vinen, Electron Publishing (Australia)* Publisher & Editor, Practical Electronics Magazine * a division of Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. Practical Electronics | February | 2025