I’m smarter than the AI

Hi everyone,

Yeah, that’s quite a statement, isn’t it?

It’s probably not true in most cases. But there are exceptions. Today I’d like to tell you about one such exception. 

***

I’m sure you know the drill… I’m sitting at my desk around 10 p.m. in dim light. Just need to quickly print out a sewing pattern, then off to bed. So I hit print. The printer complains, “Yellow ink is low, please refill.” Sure, I’ll do that—no problem. I reach into the dark shelf for the pack with the four refill bottles. Where’s the “Y” for yellow? They always just have letters on them, not something like “Yellow” or “Gelb.”

You see, I have an Epson Ecotank printer where you don’t change ink cartridges—instead, you refill the four colors from small bottles into the corresponding chambers. The printer manufacturer designed it so that each of the four refill bottles has a special nozzle that fits only that specific color in the printer. So the nozzle on the yellow bottle doesn’t fit the black ink chamber. It’s all very well thought out.

So I quickly placed the yellow refill bottle on the yellow ink chamber… gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—until the chamber was full. Then the printer started printing. And what came out? Every color except yellow! I immediately printed another large yellow page to see what was going on. The page was black!

***

Oh no, what was going on? I turned on the bright light and focused my eyes on the ink chambers and the empty refill bottle. I had poured black ink into the yellow ink chamber—all the way to the top—and then printed. Oh my God. How could this have happened, especially since I’d told you all about the different nozzles? I’d bought refill ink with the original labeling on sale for my printer during Amazon Friday. It looked exactly like the original ink, except the refill bottles didn’t have special nozzles. All the refill bottles fit all the color chambers. One moment of inattention, and you’re in a real mess.

***

Now the mishap had happened. I was wide awake again and immediately turned to the internet to find out what to do. The AI told me that after filling the printer with the wrong ink, I should turn off the printer immediately and under no circumstances print, so that the wrong ink wouldn’t flow into the entire printer system. Well, unfortunately, it was too late for that warning in my case. 

In my case, the AI advised that I take the printer apart and carefully suck the wrong ink out of the chamber using a suction device. I was also supposed to flush all the lines with xyz. But that wouldn’t really do any good if the wrong ink was already in the hose system. Well, I didn’t have a suction device, and I didn’t want to take the printer apart either. That’s just too technical for me. There was a link to a YouTube video showing a service technician performing this special procedure on an open printer—no, not for me! 

The AI’s third tip was that the printer should be sent in for repair. I immediately Googled who would accept my printer for repair and how much it would cost. It turned out that an electronics store in the nearest town would take it in after inspection and send it to the manufacturer for repair. That would cost at least 150 euros. That was too expensive for me. I might as well just buy a new printer.

***

I was all worked up. I really need my printer. And it was a good one—a hard-working printer that ran smoothly on very little ink. It was only three years old, after all. I immediately checked online to see how much a new one would cost. But no way—after only three years, it’s already out of production. I found it in only two stores, both offering it at a steep price. And the only payment option was prepayment—no way, not with me! 

So I decided to sleep on it first. The next morning, I turned my brain on. What would I have done before AI and Google existed? I would have used my common sense. And that told me I could get the black ink out of the yellow chamber by printing lots and lots of yellow pages. So that’s exactly what I did. I had a cheap pack of printer paper from Aldi, so I printed yellow pages for hours until the yellow ink chamber was almost empty. You weren’t supposed to let it get completely empty. Then I refilled the yellow ink—also from the aftermarket set that fits all nozzles. As a result, the black ink that was still in the ink chamber and in the tubes mixed with the refilled yellow. The printed pages were now turning ochre. What a joy!

After I’d printed the entire yellow chamber almost empty again, I refilled it with yellow once more. I was essentially diluting the black more and more and replacing it with yellow. 

***

By the end of the day, my test print showed that my shade of yellow had already reached a sunny yellow. The next time I refill the yellow, I might be able to print lemon yellow again. 

Learning from this experience, I immediately bought the original refill bottles with the special nozzles directly from the manufacturer. That way, I can be sure I won’t accidentally fill the wrong compartment.

***

In the end, I was smarter than the AI, which had already written off my printer. But AI is only ever as smart as what it reads on other websites and cobbles together for us. It has no idea about our own free thinking and human ingenuity. 

Today I’m happy that I fixed my printer and that it’s doing its job just fine.

Best regards, Ina

Phew, I’m really glad that my printer uses separate cartridges for each color that snap right into place. And they all have a stripe in their respective color on the casing—you don’t even have to be able to read.

Hi Ina, two thumbs up—you did a great job. 

Hi Veronika, I have a printer like that with ink cartridges, too—nothing can go wrong—or so I think. It does give me a hard time every now and then when there aren’t any original cartridges in it, but that usually only happens when I’m inserting a new cartridge. Otherwise, it prints great, all via Wi-Fi, even from other devices (iPad, smartphone, etc.) without any problems. Unfortunately, the copy and scan functions are broken, but as long as it prints—and I still have refill cartridges—I’m not buying a new one ;-). Copies or scans?—I just take a photo and send it to the PC or directly to the printer—it works great.

Best regards, Regina