Summary

In this chapter, we covered GenAI, ChatGPT, prompt engineering, and more. We also explored how well ChatGPT produces code. In all fairness, it produced code at the same level a junior PLC programmer would. It’s not bad code, but it did take some massaging for it to work. As of now, and with the average prompt engineering skill level of most people, ChatGPT cannot be a stand-in for human programmers. In all fairness, a talented prompt writer with lots of time and an optimized system could probably produce grand code with the tool; however, for the average user, ChatGPT is not going to be a fill-in anytime soon. The key takeaway here is that ChatGPT is a tool. Just as a screwdriver is useless without a carpenter, ChatGPT and other systems are going to be equally useless without knowledgeable engineers driving. With the way the technology currently is, it is far better to think of ChatGPT and other AI systems as an assistant as opposed to an engineer.

By this point in...