innovation
Quality engineering innovation with ChatGPT
Those who learn how to use these tools have an advantage over those who do not.
Published: Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – 12:03
M.Aria stretched out her arms and took a deep breath while savoring the aftertaste of the dark, rich black coffee. She waited for the system to log in and connect her to the informal Innovations fortnightly meeting with her group. This group is a group of semi-retired professionals who are passionate about quality practices and all things new.
Over the past few months, or even more, they have debated the need for new innovation standards and questioned the very term “innovation standardization.” Some called it an oxymoron.
The meeting began with customary courtesy, after which Ben mentioned ChatGPT. It’s been a hot topic lately. Has anyone heard of it or played with it?
Maria said: “This is probably next-level AI, ready to beat us humans in writing, computing and searching. It’s like when you do a search, you get human answers.”
“I found it funny that ChatGPT couldn’t provide it when I asked for the current date, but I was pretty impressed,” said Curt.
Intrigued, the group decided to investigate this issue further, especially how it might affect quality engineering. The group opted to take a short break to explore his ChatGPT on their own and reconnect after 15 minutes.
Fully caffeinated, Maria first wanted to understand ChatGPT’s capabilities and limitations, and quickly tackled it with a few example queries on various subjects.
• Describe quantum computing in simple terms
• Share creative ideas for a 10 year old boy’s birthday party
• How do I make HTTP requests in Javascript?
Ignoring the questions running through her head (What will humanity look like in 1,000 years?), she stepped back and focused on the current problem of quality, and applied AI to quality control, planning/predictive maintenance, and process control. We asked for a simple definition of optimization, supplier quality management (SQM), customer testimonials, customer complaints. She was shocked by the exact answers she got. She thought the presentation was wonderful, wonderful, precise, and perhaps even more concise than what she had written.
Moving on to potential ChatGPT roadblocks, she asked what tools could be used to improve quality. She was quickly handed a short list of natural language processing, predictive analytics, root cause analysis, and continuous learning. She delved further, looking for detailed guidance on performing a root cause analysis for a small manufacturing plant, and was pleased to receive her 7-step process in line with her thinking. . It was close to what she practiced.
Soon time was up and Maria was back in the group.
A first-time attendee, she shared that ChatGPT remembered users asking in previous searches, but was lost in the current event.
Maria thought aloud and voiced her concerns:
• What about all Quality Professional certifications like CRE, CQE, etc.? Candidates have access to the Internet and can get answers to their questions instantly.
• What about education? With all this information available online, what is the value of education? What is the impact on critical thinking skills? Will it make students lazy?
The group decides to run the session while sharing the screen. Kurt suggested focusing on the tangible. He said his brother-in-law runs a small printing shop and wondered how automation could be used for on-site quality assurance. “So why don’t you ask about it?” he suggested.
The group agreed, and Maria, still logged in and sharing her screen, entered:
For a quality professional unfamiliar with the print production process, this quick response, while not rocket science, was impressive. They wanted to dig deeper into this, but Maria had her doubts again and started typing in the question, “How will ChatGPT affect her CQE certification exam process?” .
But before he could press enter, Ben yelled, “Stop!” Listen, what we fear is AI taking our jobs. So let’s ask it instead and see what we get?”
The response from ChatGPT was encouraging. Alfredo asked the question: “Will ChatGPT revolutionize quality engineering?”
Ben loved the KISS principle and wanted to stick to the basics. Considering how a quality expert relies on data and analysis, and how they need to be reliable, he said, “Let’s try a simple math calculation.” You entered your query.
It felt like the AI was constantly saying “yes and…” like an improvisational actor, but that could be wrong or even nonsense.
Meanwhile, a caffeine-high Maria was looking for other comments and opinions on ChatGPT. In the wake of her one of the papers she read, she realizes that ChatGPT and her AI will impact some jobs, but not all of them. bottom.
She asked a question about the need for SPC considering the direction of AI and read a few responses.
Conversation continued. Alfredo piped in, “The reactions are interesting, they’re not radical, they’re pretty much in line with our way of thinking, but at least for now, it’s the human reactions that strike me.” What the group found was that he had five bullet points in his response to almost every query.
Ben observed that ChatGPT-4 outperformed previous AIs in human-like responses, but did not exhibit advanced reasoning capabilities, at least based on the queries entered. Ben continues, “It helps you organize your knowledge base and stay on track, and provides rapid visual transformation and presentation of data, as well as interactive simulations. It has tools for receivables, predictive analytics, root cause analysis, continuous learning, etc. Predictive maintenance is probably one of the top use cases for AI in manufacturing: process optimization, supplier quality control, customer Complaint pattern analysis also comes to mind.
“ChatGPT can guide novice quality engineers through the qualitative aspects of the root cause analysis process. It is hoped that it will help guide the types of questions to ask, process the results, and demonstrate reasoning capabilities. It helps us analyze diagrams, think about next steps, assist with sampling plans, and prepare for quality audits.”
Maria concludes the session by saying: “ChatGPT can revolutionize quality engineering by providing access to knowledge, personalization, speed and efficiency, training and development, and continuous improvement. It is important to note that it must be used in conjunction with your expertise and critical thinking skills as a quality engineer.
“AI will not replace humans, but like all previous technologies, it can make our tasks faster and easier. Those who learn how to use it have an advantage over those who refuse to use the tool out of fear.”
Note: Screenshots show actual responses generated by ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, accessed April 15-19, 2023.
