Oh my $DEITY, the "AI" #slop problem...
I do #hobby #electronics. I ran into a problem that I was having difficulty figuring out from the IC manufacturer's datasheet (which is terse, but does contain several example uses / circuits). It felt like I was missing something fundamental about the way it worked, so I searched the web for 3rd-party documentation, tips, tricks, examples of use, etc.
And I got pages and pages and pages of results that were nothing but slop.
Language clearly stolen from the official datasheet and reworded by #AI into not making sense.
Articles that repeat the same point in multiple sentences in multiple sequential paragraphs.
Descriptions that refer to numbered components that do not appear on the shown schematic.
Descriptions of the working of the component that are incredibly obviously incorrect, to the point that anyone who's ever measured the voltage drop across a resistor would say "That can't be right".
Confident declarations of the function of many of the device's (numerous) control pins, which are not only wrong, but sometimes completely the opposite of reality. To the point that if you followed the given instructions, you would very quickly release the #magic #smoke and become sad.
Out of the first ~60 #search results, I saw 2 that were actual humans communicating. And neither of them had a solution, they were only semi-related.
The #web is #broken. Thanks, #SiliconValley #techbros.
