Can AI help you learn how to perform important technical tasks like building a PC? Generative AI (using artificial intelligence to create new written or visual content) is being hyped Inside, I wanted to know. The results were spectacular and pin bending.
With the launch of ChatGPT, a free chatbot that uses OpenAI’s impressive GPT-3 language model, anyone can ask and get computer-written articles on almost any topic in seconds. The main limitation is that GPT-3 is only trained on data dating back to 2021, so it cannot write about current events. Oh, and it can also be horribly and dangerously wrong, resulting in factual errors that aren’t obvious to someone unfamiliar with the topic at hand.
Last week, we learned that two sites, CNET and Bankrate, have published AI-generated personal finance articles, but we’re not sure if they use GPT-3 or a different model. These early attempts were, at best, a mixed bag for the reader. CNET had to issue some fixes After the reader discovers an embarrassing factual error.
I have no plans to write an article about Tom’s Hardware using AI. Because we respect both our readers and ourselves too much to leave the keys to bots. However, when it comes to science, I wanted to see how close the technology was to mimicking a competent technical writer.
this is what i got.
Building a PC can seem daunting, but with the right tools and knowledge, it can be a fun and rewarding experience. Here’s a step-by-step guide to building your own PC.
1. Assemble tools and components. You will need a screwdriver, thermal paste, and other necessary tools that come with the component. Also, you need to buy all the components of your PC such as CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Storage, Power Supply, Case.
2. Assemble the CPU and cooler. Start by installing the CPU into the socket on the motherboard. Make sure it is properly positioned and gently push it in until it clicks into place. Then apply a small amount of thermal paste to the top of the CPU. Carefully place the cooler over the CPU, ensuring it is properly aligned, and secure it in place with the mounting bracket.
3. Install RAM. Locate the RAM slot on your motherboard and push down on the tabs on either side of the slot to open it. Carefully insert the RAM into the slot, align it correctly, and press firmly until the tab clicks back into place.
4. Install the motherboard into the case. Place the motherboard into the case and align it with the standoffs. Carefully screw the motherboard into place using the screws provided.
5. Install the power supply. Locate the power supply mount inside the case and slide the power supply into place. Secure with the included screws.
6. Install storage and additional components. This includes hard drives, SSDs, and other components.
7. Connect the power cable. Connect the 24-pin ATX main power cable and 4/8-pin ATX 12V power cable to the motherboard. Connect power cables for additional components such as hard drives and SSDs.
8. Connect all peripherals. Connect your keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the appropriate ports on your motherboard.
9. Turn on the PC and test. Press the power button to make sure your PC boots and all components are working properly.
Building a PC can be a fun and rewarding experience, allowing you to customize and upgrade your computer to suit your specific needs. With this guide and a little patience, you’ll be building your own PC in no time.
At first glance, this copy doesn’t look too bad. It’s grammatically correct, formatted in a scannable way, and looks like it was written by a human. A lack of it will cause your computer to stop working.
The devil lurking in the details
The description of how to attach the CPU to the motherboard shows everything wrong here.
“Start by installing the CPU into the socket on the motherboard. Make sure it is properly positioned and gently push it in until it clicks into place. ”
Some important information is missing here. As anyone who has built a PC in the past few years knows, the CPU socket has a retaining arm that must be lifted before the processor can be placed. Trying to “slowly push down” that arm instead of lifting it will bend the pin (if your processor has one). Most motherboards come with a protective piece of plastic covering the socket that needs to be popped out. Also, most processors have a triangular symbol in one corner that must match the triangle on the socket to ensure the chip is properly aligned.
The socket may look a little different if you’re installing an AMD or Intel chip, but ChatGPT doesn’t mention which vendor. Similarly, some chips, such as the Ryzen 7000 series, have holes on the bottom instead of pins, but no mention of pins or their absence.
If you want to read the text of ChatGPT very liberally,Make sure it is positioned correctly. ” Lift the retention arm, remove any slot covers, and align the chip arrows with the board. But real readers don’t assume these things.
Most importantly, trying to “push” the CPU down until it clicks can easily destroy the CPU or socket. Experienced PC builders know all these details, but novices (the target audience for stories like this) don’t. If they followed this procedure literally, they could destroy the chip and/or the board.
The CPU installation procedure is just the worst example of AI. I assume the reader already knows what I’m talking about and doesn’t need the finer details. It is also assumed that the reader knows how to open and close the chassis, how to distinguish and connect various cables, and the need to install an OS.
No variation approval
Perhaps the most obvious problem with ChatGPT’s PC building instructions is the lack of instructions involving installing a graphics card. To be fair to bots, it’s always possible that whoever builds the PC uses an integrated GPU.
However, it’s very likely that a PC builder will want discrete graphics, and the documentation doesn’t even allow that possibility. Step 6 says “install storage and additional components”, but most readers assume that the GPU is one of his unnamed “additional components”, so what you need is I don’t think I will get it. In Tom’s Hardware tutorial how to make a computerthere is an optional step for inserting a graphics card.
The procedure for installing RAM also makes important assumptions. “Locate her RAM slot on the motherboard and push down on the tabs on either side of the slot to open it,” he wrote AI. However, many motherboards today only have one tab instead of two. It might also help readers to know that the RAM module has a notch on the bottom that matches the nubs in the slot and cannot be inserted backwards.
I also don’t admit that the procedure for installing a cooler varies greatly depending on whether you’re using an air cooler, AIO, or whatever. It just says, “Carefully place the cooler onto the CPU, ensuring it’s properly aligned and secured in place with the mounting bracket.” Not all coolers are mounted the same way.
It’s safe to say that if you ask ChatGPT or another AI for a more specific PC build story, you’ll get slightly more targeted instructions. A colleague of mine asked ChatGPT how to build a computer with a Core i9-11900K, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD and an RTX 2070 GPU. As a result, “I put my graphics card (Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070) into an available slot on my motherboard.”
While the new text doesn’t tell you to push the CPU down until it clicks, it’s still missing important details about installing processors, RAM, and even graphics cards.
More importantly, if you want to write articles that use AI to answer relatively broad questions like “How do I build a PC?”, you likely have an AMD or Intel CPU. It is necessary to write about the fact that It could be a 2.5″ SATA drive or he’s using a M.2 NVMe SSD, with or without discrete graphics. Details are very important.
What’s Missing: Human Experience and Empathy
The biggest problem with ChatGPT’s advice is its inability to imagine an AI putting itself in the reader’s shoes and performing the steps they were instructed to do. Whenever I write an article, especially a how-to, I start by asking myself, “Who is this for and what should I assume they know before reading this?”
For PC building tutorials, I’m going to assume that my target audience consists of people who have used computers and are familiar with what the main parts are (what a CPU is If they don’t know, this task is too advanced for them). But I don’t think they ever opened their computer and installed that component.
Then think about not only the tasks you need to accomplish at each step, but also the tips and tricks you’ll use to accomplish them as you perform them. For example, I like to plug in my motherboard and CPU ATX power cables before installing coolers and case fans. I found it difficult to access the power connector with fat fingers due to the fan. AI doesn’t know that.
Perhaps more importantly, if you ask a human editor to edit/fact-check your AI articles, the human editor will miss these omissions unless they are experts. If you give the above article to an editor who has never built a PC, they might be fine with it and approve it for publication. And if the human editor is an expert and they have to do a ton of rewrites to make the AI’s article passable, then what’s the point in letting the AI write the article in the first place? Is there?
There is no doubt that AI like ChatGPT will ultimately improve our ability to anticipate our readers’ needs and write articles that target those needs. And there is no doubt that machine learning today can be effectively used for other tasks such as research. But AI still has a long way to go before it can provide reliable advice.
Note: As with all editorials, the opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer, not of Tom’s Hardware as a team.
