  The engineering community has recently witnessed the emergence of chatbot
technology with the release of OpenAI ChatGPT-4 and Google Bard. While these
chatbots have been reported to perform well and even pass various standardized
tests, including medical and law exams, this forum paper explores whether these
chatbots can also pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principles and
Practice of Engineering (PE) exams. A diverse range of civil and environmental
engineering questions and scenarios are used to evaluate the chatbots'
performance, as commonly present in the FE and PE exams. The chatbots'
responses were analyzed based on their relevance, accuracy, and clarity and
then compared against the recommendations of the National Council of Examiners
for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). Our report shows that ChatGPT-4 and
Bard, respectively scored 70.9% and 39.2% in the FE exam and 46.2% and 41% in
the PE exam. It is evident that the current version of ChatGPT-4 could
potentially pass the FE exam. While future editions are much more likely to
pass both exams, this study also highlights the potential of using chatbots as
teaching assistants and guiding engineers.
