I have been working on design of a new home-based solar power system. Solar has been around for a long time, and the technology has become more user friendly with acceptable cost.

I was working online with a large solar power company, using its hardware to come up with a basic system that is compact, powerful and expandable. The math required to match the right solar panel array with the right inverter and the right battery bank is daunting.

I did the math and wanted to submit the design to the solar power company for confirmation. I wanted to be sure my math was correct. But who should I ask?

Most online search engines have “chat bots,” including Google, Bing and Amazon’s Alexa, which invite you to “ask anything.” These applications are based on open AI such as GPT-4 artificial intelligence programming platforms. I remembered AI research many years ago and thought that it may become a useful programming tool. I am astounded by what it has become.

I asked the chat bot if my math was correct. It answered, “I am glad you are interested in solar power; your calculations are good and the system should operate.” It went through my calculations and even listed multiple source libraries in five seconds. The astounding thing is it referred to itself as “I.”

This is frightening. A computer should not refer to itself as “I.” We should be alarmed as Elon Musk and Bill Gates are about AI.

Lawrence Everett, South Paris

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