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Should handymen use AI to fix your electric outlets? New Mozilla project says yes!
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XLE piefed.social XLE@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-23
Quote

In an obscure post, a Mozilla MLE announced a ClawBot ripoff specifically targeted at at tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, roofers, handymen) for help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc.

What is their project, ClawBolt? According to their website, it's a compilation of

  • A flaky AI agent you run on your computer
  • A Telegram chatbot to remotely control it
  • A connection to OpenAI to parse all of it

This sounds like a dangerous project to target at tradesmen, doesn't it? AI marketing tells people that AI is smart and safe and powerful when it is anything but. If Facebook's top AI safety genius nearly destroyed her own email inbox, how will a plumber fare?

One of the features of ClawBolt is "memory," something that will store and possibly corrupt questions and answers like "What's Mrs. Johnson's address?" and "My hourly rate is $95".

But it gets worse: ClawBolt documentation says it can scan images to "get help identifying fixtures"

Remember the memes making fun of AI's inability to make wiring diagrams?

I can only imagine how bad this could make things for tradespeople - in addition to violating customer privacy, getting gaslit by a non-deterministic "memory" machine, and potentially breaking their work computers.

155   Original
morto piefed.social morto@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-07-03
#2 · Quote Reply

The 13 amperes bullshit model 1362 seems pretty well represented

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RejZoR lemmy.ml RejZoR@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2025-02-09
#3 · Quote Reply

It's always good practice to wire line to the ground pin, this ensures equal distribution of electricity to the metal frame of the appliance. This works exceptionally well with metal radiators, washing machines, fridges... the results are quite literally shocking!

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Darkard lemmy.world Darkard@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#4 · Quote Reply

Remember to use 2 different screws and a 3rd one that's proprietary to that one plug in your house alone

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mushroommunk lemmy.today mushroommunk@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-08-18
#5 · Quote Reply

It's always good practice to wire line to the ground pin, this ensures equal distribution of electricity to the metal frame of the appliance. This works exceptionally well with metal radiators, washing machines, fridges... the results are quite literally shocking!

Your own personal reverse faraday cage

9
oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#6 · Quote Reply

This is so stupid.

It's just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don't necessarily know.
It's not designed to do the job of actual tradespeople.

It might be stupid but it's not like it's a safety issue or anything and if it were they are fully unqualified for their trade anyways.

It's a whole lot of nothing, except a waste of money for Mozilla and everyone else involved.

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ViatorOmnium piefed.social ViatorOmnium@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-11
#7 · Quote Reply

This is so stupid. It's just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don't necessarily know. It's not designed to do the job of actual tradespeople. It might be stupid but it's not like it's a safety issue or anything and if it were they are fully unqualified for their trade anyways. It's a whole lot of nothing, except a waste of money for Mozilla and everyone else involved.

If the AI is dangerously wrong in the things you know, how dangerously wrong is it in the things you don't know? And will you realize it when you see it?

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ThatGuy46475 lemmy.world ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-01-25
#8 · Quote Reply

This is so stupid. It's just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don't necessarily know. It's not designed to do the job of actual tradespeople. It might be stupid but it's not like it's a safety issue or anything and if it were they are fully unqualified for their trade anyways. It's a whole lot of nothing, except a waste of money for Mozilla and everyone else involved.

In my experience ai can’t distinguish between a 5-15p and 6-20r, how useful could it be for an actual electrician

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Steve startrek.website Steve@startrek.website
Joined: 2023-10-08
#9 · Quote Reply

Remember to use 2 different screws and a 3rd one that's proprietary to that one plug in your house alone

And just toss the fuse in at the end

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cRazi_man europe.pub cRazi_man@europe.pub
Joined: 2025-06-04
#10 · Quote Reply

I asked ChatGPT a question about a PC project and it offered to draw out a diagram for me. It's was hilariously badly wrong. Worth trying out yourself if you're on the mood for a chuckle (and warring enough power/water to sustain a village in the process).

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ohulancutash feddit.uk ohulancutash@feddit.uk
Joined: 2025-02-16
#11 · Quote Reply

This is so stupid. It's just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don't necessarily know. It's not designed to do the job of actual tradespeople. It might be stupid but it's not like it's a safety issue or anything and if it were they are fully unqualified for their trade anyways. It's a whole lot of nothing, except a waste of money for Mozilla and everyone else involved.

It is a safety issue

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#12 · Quote Reply

In my experience ai can’t distinguish between a 5-15p and 6-20r, how useful could it be for an actual electrician

Did any of you read the actual post?
It's not designed to do electrical or plumbing work or whatever.
It's to "help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc."

If an AI is used by an electrician and it results in them doing unsafe work. They are a terrible electrician that would do unsafe work without AI and should lose their license yesterday.

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#13 · Quote Reply

If the AI is dangerously wrong in the things you know, how dangerously wrong is it in the things you don't know? And will you realize it when you see it?

If an actual electrician AI existed (and not this administrative task AI) it might be dangerous for normal people to use it.
But if an actual authorized electrician uses an AI to do unsafe work they are a terrible electrician and shouldn't be an electrician in the first place.

Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions about their own profession?

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TwinTitans lemmy.world TwinTitans@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-19
#14 · Quote Reply

As a tradesman - this is horrific 😭

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BradleyUffner lemmy.world BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-11
#15 · (edited) Quote Reply

AI is generally garbage, but I refuse to judge AI output until I see the actual prompt that generated it. Who knows the they actually asked for. The prompt could have been "generate an image showing how to wire a plug so that it will kill the next person that touches it".

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HarkMahlberg kbin.earth HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth
Joined: 2025-03-18
#16 · Quote Reply

If an actual electrician AI existed (and not this administrative task AI) it might be dangerous for normal people to use it. But if an actual authorized electrician uses an AI to do unsafe work they are a terrible electrician and shouldn't be an electrician in the first place. Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions abou...

Look up "deskilling."

1
teft piefed.social teft@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-07-22
#17 · Quote Reply

If an actual electrician AI existed (and not this administrative task AI) it might be dangerous for normal people to use it. But if an actual authorized electrician uses an AI to do unsafe work they are a terrible electrician and shouldn't be an electrician in the first place. Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions abou...

Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions about their own profession?

But you said:

It’s just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don’t necessarily know .

If they don't know/realize the AI is wrong why would they double check? That's the problem with these systems.

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#18 · Quote Reply

Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions about their own profession? But you said: It’s just an AI for assisting with various stuff tradespeople don’t necessarily know . If they don't know/realize the AI is wrong why would they double check? That's the problem with these systems.

I mean it's accounting and admin stuff. So it's not dangerous.
Worst case scenario is that they loose money or I guess it's theoretically possible that they "accidentally" commit tax fraud or something but that is obviously their own fault and it's not really dangerous.

-6
oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#19 · Quote Reply

Look up "deskilling."

Do you seriously think any tradespeople will just forget how to do their job just because of some stupid accounting and admin task AI?

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sartalon lemmy.world sartalon@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-15
#20 · Quote Reply

Still better than some of the drawings my engineers have given me...

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P00ptart lemmy.world P00ptart@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-26
#21 · Quote Reply

If an actual electrician AI existed (and not this administrative task AI) it might be dangerous for normal people to use it. But if an actual authorized electrician uses an AI to do unsafe work they are a terrible electrician and shouldn't be an electrician in the first place. Why is everyone assuming tradespeople are terrible at their jobs and apparently unable to spot unsafe instructions abou...

Because I've seen enough farmers and handyman work to know that a LOT of people think they know what they're doing. Or know just enough to be dangerous.

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LemmyFeed lemmy.dbzer0.com LemmyFeed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-02-01
#22 · Quote Reply

I asked Gemini, both "fast" and "pro" model, to recreate the image correctly. I'm no UK electrician but I don't think these are any better...

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Ech lemmy.ca ech@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-06-25
#23 · Quote Reply

I asked Gemini, both "fast" and "pro" model, to recreate the image correctly. I'm no UK electrician but I don't think these are any better...

Stop supporting this bullshit. Stop wasting our resources on stupid bullshit.

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hoch lemmy.world hoch@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-08-02
#24 · Quote Reply

Stop supporting this bullshit. Stop wasting our resources on stupid bullshit.

I ran it 5 more times to spite you

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ThomasWilliams lemmy.world ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-12-10
#25 · (edited) Quote Reply

Did any of you read the actual post? It's not designed to do electrical or plumbing work or whatever. It's to "help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc." If an AI is used by an electrician and it results in them doing unsafe work. They are a terrible electrician that would do unsafe work without AI and should lose their license yesterday.

You don't need to be an electrician to install a plug in Britain, in fact they sometimes sell appliances without plugs in Britain, so your excuse is irrelevant.

It’s to “help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc.”

Heh fuck me dead. Ai famously is terrible at basic arithmetic. It would be suicidal to use it for invoices.

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trolololol lemmy.world trolololol@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-07
#26 · Quote Reply

Did any of you read the actual post? It's not designed to do electrical or plumbing work or whatever. It's to "help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc." If an AI is used by an electrician and it results in them doing unsafe work. They are a terrible electrician that would do unsafe work without AI and should lose their license yesterday.

Why would it be better at those tasks ?

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#27 · Quote Reply

You don't need to be an electrician to install a plug in Britain, in fact they sometimes sell appliances without plugs in Britain, so your excuse is irrelevant. It’s to “help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc.” Heh fuck me dead. Ai famously is terrible at basic arithmetic. It would be suicidal to use it for invoices.

It's the same in Sweden and so what?
I doubt this AI will be generally available or at least that the public would like to use an AI designed for invoices and shit to wire a plug.

And in Sweden at least, you are only allowed to wire a plug if you know what you are doing.

-2
oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#28 · Quote Reply

Why would it be better at those tasks ?

I don't fucking know. But saying it's dangerous is fucking ridiculous.

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#29 · Quote Reply

Because I've seen enough farmers and handyman work to know that a LOT of people think they know what they're doing. Or know just enough to be dangerous.

So it's not an AI issue then?
It's yours countrys inability to certify electricians and plumbers properly.

Someone that's dangerous without AI is dangerous with AI. Someone that knows how to do their job isn't dangerous with AI.

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P00ptart lemmy.world P00ptart@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-26
#30 · Quote Reply

So it's not an AI issue then? It's yours countrys inability to certify electricians and plumbers properly. Someone that's dangerous without AI is dangerous with AI. Someone that knows how to do their job isn't dangerous with AI.

No, it's overconfidence in abilities.

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macke49 lemmy.world macke49@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-05-25
#31 · Quote Reply

Line and earth swopped this isn't fashion style color matching. Greetings from hell the prompter or the programmer to hell. A good example for bad AI results.

0
Bazell lemmy.zip Bazell@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-11-12
#32 · Quote Reply

Looks more to me like a smoking machine or even a fire starter.

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#33 · Quote Reply

No, it's overconfidence in abilities.

Overconfidence in what exactly, invoices? Who gives a shit! Stop acting like improper invoices or some other admin shit is in anyway dangerous. This is just fear mongering

-2
P00ptart lemmy.world P00ptart@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-26
#34 · Quote Reply

Overconfidence in what exactly, invoices? Who gives a shit! Stop acting like improper invoices or some other admin shit is in anyway dangerous. This is just fear mongering

Who said anything about invoices? You're not even making a coherent argument anymore.

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zebidiah lemmy.ca zebidiah@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-01
#35 · Quote Reply

Here the thing tho... Ai isn't actually meant to replace anyone, it's just an excuse to lay people off and increase the price of the stock

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HarkMahlberg kbin.earth HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth
Joined: 2025-03-18
#36 · Quote Reply

Do you seriously think any tradespeople will just forget how to do their job just because of some stupid accounting and admin task AI?

I sure do. And engineers. And doctors.

1
oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#37 · Quote Reply

I sure do. And engineers. And doctors.

How will they get worse at the part of their job the actually matters if they got an AI that helps them with invoices?

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oasis piefed.social oasis@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-25
#38 · Quote Reply

Who said anything about invoices? You're not even making a coherent argument anymore.

Did you not read the fucking post?

In an obscure post, a Mozilla MLE announced a ClawBot ripoff specifically targeted at at tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, roofers, handymen) for help with administrative tasks like scheduling, explaining invoices, etc.

It's not an AI designed to do electrical work, plumbing or whatever. It's for admin work like dealing with invoices.
This has been my point the this entire time so I don't get what you are referring to? Is your context window full or what 🤣

0
GarboDog lemmy.world GarboDog@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-11-12
#39 · Quote Reply

That is a horrible AI image, so happy Ai images are becoming piss colored

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Nalivai lemmy.world Nalivai@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#40 · Quote Reply

I ran it 5 more times to spite you

You probably think you're doing something, huh

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Nalivai lemmy.world Nalivai@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#41 · Quote Reply

I asked Gemini, both "fast" and "pro" model, to recreate the image correctly. I'm no UK electrician but I don't think these are any better...

No they are not

1
Nalivai lemmy.world Nalivai@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#42 · (edited) Quote Reply

That is a horrible AI image, so happy Ai images are becoming piss colored

Studio Ghibli was so powerful, their stuff was too hard for a slopgen to swallow

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GarboDog lemmy.world GarboDog@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-11-12
#43 · Quote Reply

Studio Ghibli was so powerful, their stuff was too hard for a slopgen to swallow

Studio Ghibli always out here with the W’s

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HarkMahlberg kbin.earth HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth
Joined: 2025-03-18
#44 · Quote Reply

How will they get worse at the part of their job the actually matters if they got an AI that helps them with invoices?

Oh piss off with this "its just administrative tasks bro, it's just meant to replace secretaries bro." Nobody believes that garbage.

You think "accounting and admin stuff is not dangerous?" That those tasks don't "actually matter?" Please tell the IRS that excuse when it files your taxes wrong, and let me know what they say.

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