ElecAS
How ElecAS AI Mode Works: Why the Result Is Not AI-Generated
This page explains the mechanism behind ElecAS AI Mode and why its output is not AI-generated content. The assistant runs under a standing instruction that forbids it from computing, estimating, rounding, interpolating or sanity-checking an electrical number itself: every number it states must come from a tool result it has just received. Four steps happen when you press send. You describe the job in plain English. The model picks one of 16 calculation engines and maps your words onto that engine's inputs: that is the entire extent of its involvement, and if a required parameter is genuinely missing it asks you for it rather than inventing one. Your browser validates the parameters against a strict schema and then runs the same calculation module the calculator page uses, loading the same AS/NZS reference tables; this is the only path in AI Mode from a request to a number. Finally the result card shows the figure, every compliance check and every input that reached the engine, with anything defaulted tagged as assumed, and the model narrates the result in a couple of sentences without being permitted to restate a number with different rounding or different units. Because there is no free-form path to a number, results are deterministic, quoting a clause or limit from memory is prohibited, assumptions are printed rather than implied, and every answer exports the same branded PDF and reopens in the full calculator for hand checking. The page also sets out what AI Mode will not do: it can misread a description, it cannot see your site or your manufacturer data, it will not interpret the Wiring Rules for you, drawing-driven tools are deliberately excluded, and verification is not certification. Selecting the method, validating the inputs and certifying the design remain with the engineer of record.
Key facts
- ElecAS AI Mode output is not AI-generated content: the language model selects a calculator and fills its inputs, and a deterministic AS/NZS engine produces every number.
- The assistant runs under a standing instruction that forbids it from computing, estimating, rounding, interpolating or sanity-checking an electrical number itself.
- There is no free-form path to a number: no code path exists where text produced by the model becomes a figure on a result card.
- Parameters are validated against a strict schema before any engine runs, so an incomplete job is refused rather than silently completed.
- Quoting a clause number, table number or numeric limit from memory is explicitly prohibited; standards references only appear where the engine produced them.
- Every result exports the calculator's branded PDF and reopens in the full calculator with every field populated, so a reviewer can re-trace it by hand.
- AI Mode still cannot see your site or manufacturer data, can misread a description, excludes drawing-driven tools, and does not replace certification by the engineer of record.
Who this page is for
Electrical engineers, designers, reviewers, certifiers and technical managers assessing whether an AI-assisted electrical calculation can be trusted, audited and included in a design submission.
Relevant standards
- AS/NZS 3000:2018 (Wiring Rules)
- AS/NZS 3008.1.1:2025 (cable selection)
- AS/NZS 4777.1:2016 (inverter voltage rise)
- IEEE 1584-2018 (arc flash incident energy)
- IEEE 485 / 1184 / 1189 (UPS and battery sizing)
What this tool helps with
- The standing system instruction: the assistant must never compute, estimate, round, interpolate or sanity-check an electrical number itself. Every number it states must come from a tool result.
- Four steps per request, only one of which involves the model: you describe the job, the model picks an engine and fills its parameters, the browser validates and runs the production engine, and the card reports the figure with its checks and inputs.
- There is no free-form path to a number: no code path exists where text produced by the model becomes a figure on a result card.
- Nothing is re-implemented for AI Mode: it imports the same calculation modules and the same checked-in AS/NZS reference tables as the calculator pages.
- Assumptions are printed, not implied: the assumed tags come from what the validator actually defaulted, not from what the model claims it assumed.
- No standards quoted from memory: stating a clause number, table number or numeric limit from memory is explicitly forbidden.
- The output is evidence, not a chat log: every result exports the calculator's branded PDF and reopens in the full calculator with every field populated.
- Deterministic by construction: the same inputs return the same result and the same PDF, where rewording a prompt to a general assistant can change the answer.
- The honest limits: AI Mode can misread a description, cannot see your site or manufacturer data, will not interpret the Wiring Rules, excludes drawing-driven tools, and does not replace certification by the engineer of record.
How ElecAS AI Mode works: and why its results are not AI-generated
The one rule the product is built around
The assistant operates under a standing system instruction: it must never compute, estimate, round, interpolate or sanity-check an electrical number itself. It does not know cable ratings, impedances, derating factors, demand figures or fault levels: the tools do. Every number it states must come from a tool result it has just received.
This is not a tone preference or a disclaimer. It is the constraint the architecture enforces, and everything else on this page is a consequence of it.
What happens when you press send
Four things happen, and only one of them involves the model. First, you describe the job in plain English, in whatever order it comes out. Second, the model picks one of the 16 calculation engines and maps your words onto that engine's inputs: that is its entire job, and if a required parameter is genuinely missing it asks you for it rather than inventing one. Third, your browser validates the parameters against a strict schema and then runs the same calculation module the calculator page uses, loading the same AS/NZS reference tables; this is the only path from a request to a number. Fourth, the card reports the figure, every compliance check and every input that reached the engine, and the model narrates the result in a couple of sentences without being permitted to restate a number with different rounding or different units.
Nothing in that sequence is generative except the reading of your sentence and the closing narration.
Six things that are true of every result
There is no free-form path to a number. The assistant can only act by calling one of the listed engines; no code path exists where model-produced text becomes a figure on a result card. Ask for something outside that catalogue and it declines rather than improvising.
The engines are the calculators. Nothing is re-implemented for AI Mode: it imports the same calculation modules and the same checked-in standard reference tables as the calculator pages, so a cable size from AI Mode and the same job typed into the Cable Selection form agree.
Assumptions are printed, not implied. The assumed tags on a result come from what the validator actually defaulted, not from what the model claims it assumed. A misheard installation method or an ambient temperature you never supplied appears on the card next to the answer.
No standards are quoted from memory. Stating a clause number, a table number or a numeric limit from memory is explicitly forbidden, because a confident and wrong citation is worse than no answer. Standard and table references appear only where the engine itself produced them.
The output is evidence, not a chat log. Every result exports the same branded PDF the calculator exports (inputs, intermediate values, governing check and final figure), and one tap loads the whole job into the full calculator with every field populated, so a reviewer can re-trace it by hand.
It is tested and version-stamped. Because AI Mode runs the production engines, it inherits the suite's verification regime: automated tests against the standards' own worked examples on every build, and a version stamp that ties any output back to a specific release.
Why not just ask a general AI assistant?
You can, and for some things you should: a general assistant is genuinely good at explaining a concept, drafting an email, or talking through a clause you have already read. The difference is confined to one specific job: producing a number that goes on a drawing you sign.
With a general assistant the number is generated as text from patterns in training data; in AI Mode it is read out of the AS/NZS reference tables shipped with the app by the engine that ships with the calculator. Rewording the question or starting a fresh session can change a general assistant's answer; AI Mode is deterministic, and the same inputs return the same result and the same PDF every time. A general assistant recalls clause and table references from memory, fluently and sometimes wrongly; in AI Mode quoting from memory is prohibited. When information is missing a general assistant fills the gap silently; AI Mode validates required parameters, asks when one is absent, and prints anything it defaulted.
What you can hand over differs too. A general assistant gives you a chat transcript; AI Mode gives you a branded PDF report with inputs, intermediate values and compliance checks: the same file the calculator exports. And where a general assistant will attempt anything, including work it should decline, AI Mode covers 16 engines for AS/NZS practice and says so plainly outside them. None of this is a knock on general assistants; they were built to produce plausible language, and a cable size is not a language problem.
What AI Mode still will not do
It can misread your description: which is precisely why every input that reached the engine is listed on the card, and checking them before you use the number is part of the workflow. It cannot see your site, your existing installation or your manufacturer's data; it calculates what you describe.
It will not quote or interpret the Wiring Rules for you: for clause text, go to the Standard. Drawing-driven and model-driven tools (EleCAD, Lighting Design, Spatial Design, time-current curves and Switchboard Sizing) are not in AI Mode, because a half-specified switchboard is worse than a link to the page.
And verification is not certification. AI Mode is a design aid; selecting the method, validating the inputs and certifying the design remain with the engineer of record.
Key terms
Tool calling
- The mechanism by which a language model selects a named function and supplies its arguments instead of writing an answer itself. In AI Mode it is the only action the assistant can take, so a generated value cannot reach a result card.
System instruction
- The standing instruction the assistant runs under. In AI Mode it forbids computing, estimating, rounding, interpolating or sanity-checking any electrical number, and requires every stated number to come from a tool result.
Schema validation
- The strict check applied to the parameters the model produces before any engine runs. It rejects an incomplete or malformed job, which is what turns a missing parameter into a question rather than a silent assumption.
Assumed input
- A parameter filled with a default by the validator because the description did not supply it. Assumed inputs are printed on the result card and in the PDF, so the reader sees exactly what was inferred.
Deterministic result
- A result that depends only on its inputs, so the same job returns the same figure and the same report every time: the property that separates a computed result from a generated one.
Engineer of record
- The qualified professional responsible for selecting the calculation method, validating the inputs and certifying the design. ElecAS, including AI Mode, is a design aid and does not assume that responsibility.
Frequently asked questions
Does AI Mode work out the numbers itself?
- No. The language model only reads your description, picks which calculator to use, and fills in that calculator's input fields. The number itself is worked out by the same calculation code the calculator page uses, loading the same AS/NZS reference tables. The model is not permitted to compute, estimate, round or interpolate a value.
Will AI Mode give the same answer as the calculator page?
- Yes. AI Mode does not have its own copy of the maths: it imports the same calculation modules and the same checked-in AS/NZS data as the calculator page. The same job described in AI Mode and typed into the form returns the same result.
What happens if I leave something out of my description?
- Your inputs are checked against a strict list before any calculation runs. If a required value is genuinely missing, AI Mode asks you for it rather than inventing one. Where a value has a standard default, the default is used and tagged as assumed on the result card so you can see it.
How do I check what AI Mode assumed?
- Every input that reached the calculation is listed on the result card, and anything filled in by default is marked as assumed. If AI Mode misread your description, you see it next to the answer rather than having to guess.
Can I open an AI Mode result in the full calculator?
- Yes. One tap opens the job in the full calculator with every field already filled in, so you or a reviewer can change an input or re-trace the result by hand. Every result also exports the same branded PDF report the calculator exports.
Will AI Mode quote clause numbers from the Wiring Rules?
- Only where the calculation itself produced the reference. Stating a clause number, table number or numeric limit from memory is explicitly forbidden, because that is exactly where a language model is most likely to be confidently wrong.
What can AI Mode not do?
- It can misread a plain-English description, it cannot see your site or your manufacturer's data, and it will not interpret the Wiring Rules for you. Drawing-based tools such as EleCAD are deliberately excluded. Verification is not certification: choosing the method, checking the inputs and certifying the design remain with the engineer of record.