this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
669 points (98.1% liked)
Fuck AI
4175 readers
1102 users here now
"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Labeled as ground that mysteriously vanishes in the machine???
It should; but it's also important to note breakers are not intended to prevent electric shocks, they are intended to protect the wiring within your walls.
The time in between this being plugged in and the relevant breaker tripping IS enough time to receive a harmful shock from that 'ground' wire. Preventing this is the purpose of GFCI devices.
Assuming everything else is in good working order, the fault current would probably be enough to trip the breaker in a similar time frame to how fast a GFCI would react.
But, if the owner of the house is asking AI for electrical advice, it's entirely possible they've fucked up wiring the socket as well.
I mean, potentially, I guess; but you're rolling the dice with resistances across a few dozen connections, high fault currents, and trip time curves that altogether I certainly wouldn't want to play games with.
Regular breakers are not designed to trip at high speed and prevent shocks, they're there to stop your wiring from bursting into flames. The larger the fault, the faster they will cut off power, but there's no guarantee that'll be fast enough to save you from electrocution.
I did say probably.
Unless you have a broken neutral, in which case someone dies.
Yes; obviously a broken neutral is a problem in itself, but that's usually a relatively minor issue that just leaves an outlet inoperable at worst.
The way this plug is wired is such a hazard that if it was plugged into an outlet with a broken neutral, it could be potentially deadly for an extended period of time (as opposed to tripping a breaker, only presenting a hazard briefly).
A really simple example: an outlet that has worn out, meaning the neutral does not always connect with the inserted plug. You insert this plug into that outlet and the casing of the appliance you've just plugged in is now live.
You do understand things break over time, right? Just because your outlets worked when you moved in doesn't mean the neutral contacts haven't snapped off in the plug or something.
Also, most people don't randomly test every outlet in their house, no. That's kinda weird.