Oh deep joy 🙄 

I must admit I detest AI for AI's sake, partly because it's not really true artificial "intelligence" and partly because the carbon footprint is so high for running the servers to support AI.

However.....

Once AI is given a relatively well defined scope and trained properly it is actually a very effective dissemination tool. Wattson on this forum is a perfect example since many visitors sign up to ask a question that's already been at least in part answered before but where the answer is fairly well hidden as a result of limitations in the search tools. Many visitors also know what they want to find out but can't define it well enough to search accurately. Both these scenarios are ideal for an AI helper to address.

As a result, despite my dislike of AI, I tried out a few quite wide-scoping, loosely defined questions that would be great to ask a person but would be a nightmare to address with a standard search engine. The answers I got back were a good reflection of the sum of received wisdom on this forum, so if I had to criticise I'd have to be critical of the opinions on RHH rather of Wattson's ability to summarise.

If it gets a few confused people closer to useful answers, I'll live with my prejudices I think.

@majordennisbloodnok your feedback means a great deal... I've known you long enough to value your honest perspective, so this is truly a glowing endorsement. Thank you.

The response from industry professionals has been overwhelmingly positive already, with many reaching out to commend the depth and quality of the answers provided. This reinforces my belief that this tool will grow in importance, particularly as we engage manufacturers to incorporate basic error code troubleshooting and diagnostics.

@majordennisbloodnok Likewise! If I may be permitted to put on my curmudgeon’s hat for a moment though …. could Wattson be just a tad less ‘In yer face’ as every time I go to read a posting, a large rectangle appears in my view inviting me to use Wattson and also the icon/emoticon of a face with headset superimposes itself over what I’m writing! This may be an exaggeration in some respects because I am using a magnification above the average person’s likely settings - so please forgive this miserable curmudgeon if you will! Nevertheless, I like the idea though!😉 Testy Toodles.

Thanks, @editor

Perhaps perversely, Wattson's ability to summarise well is also likely to reveal any gaps in its learning. One area I've already seen is that it admits it doesn't know much about Homely, Havenwise and so forth and it lumps them together with full blown home automation systems like Home Assistant. Once someone has got their heat pump, solar PV, battery and EV the next logical step is how to pull things together more cohesively and the services I've mentioned have had quite a bit of coverage on the forum lately, so that's definitely a gap that could do with being filled.

Similarly, EVs and EV charging are topics that have been tackled on this forum and so I'd like to see in-scope for Wattson but they aren't at the moment. I can understand how, as grey areas, they might well fall outside the tight RHH scope, though, so that's more an observation than a criticism; after all, you've got to draw the line somewhere.

Posted by: @toodles

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@majordennisbloodnok Likewise! If I may be permitted to put on my curmudgeon’s hat for a moment though …. could Wattson be just a tad less ‘In yer face’ as every time I go to read a posting, a large rectangle appears in my view inviting me to use Wattson and also the icon/emoticon of a face with headset superimposes itself over what I’m writing! This may be an exaggeration in some respects because I am using a magnification above the average person’s likely settings - so please forgive this miserable curmudgeon if you will! Nevertheless, I like the idea though!😉 Testy Toodles.

Being purely selfish for a moment, @toodles, I'd prefer Wattson to be in the bottom left rather than the bottom right - to obscure someone's avatar and so forth rather than the list of topics. However, I'm sure that'll be one of any number of opinions @editor will have to balance into the mix.

@editor, I don't suppose there's any way we could have a permanent menu item at the top to point to Wattson and a profile option to turn on/off Wattson's hovering on a user's screen, is there?

@majordennisbloodnok, you’re absolutely right that Wattson’s ability to summarise clearly can also make gaps more noticeable, and identifying those areas is exactly the kind of input we need at this stage. Homely, Havenwise and Home Assistant are all quite different beasts, so if Wattson is conflating them, that’s a signal we need to refine how those tools are represented and contextualised. We’ve recently embedded detailed information on Havenwise (about 10 minutes ago) and Homely is on the radar, so this will definitely improve.

As for EVs and charging, you’ve hit the nail on the head, they fall just outside the current scope we’ve drawn around heating, solar PV and batteries. That said, we know there’s crossover in many households and conversations, especially when it comes to energy management. Battery storage and ToUs are next on the agenda.

In the meantime, your observations are very helpful, and if there are specific posts or threads that you think are particularly useful for training Wattson further, I’d be happy to include them.

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

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Being purely selfish for a moment, @toodles, I'd prefer Wattson to be in the bottom left rather than the bottom right - to obscure someone's avatar and so forth rather than the list of topics. However, I'm sure that'll be one of any number of opinions @editor will have to balance into the mix.

@editor, I don't suppose there's any way we could have a permanent menu item at the top to point to Wattson and a profile option to turn on/off Wattson's hovering on a user's screen, is there?

Bottom left doesn't work because it'll conflict/overlap with "comments" on other pages... 

The option doesn't exist to turn Wattson on and off at the moment, but I'll speak to the devs to see what they say.

@toodles Wattson is presently very small... unfortunately he'll have to stay put for now 🤣

@editor If Wattson is currently very small, please don’t enlarge him any further!!! Toodles.

@toodles is that on your phone?