[STEM] AI is a fantastic tool. But is it doing the right work?

Ethical Use of AI

"I apologize for the length of this letter. If I had had more time, it would have been shorter."
— Mark Twain

(Note to self: AI could have shortened this. But would it have gotten the gist right?)

It's remarkable how far AI has come in just a few years. It's touching every aspect of our lives—often in ways we don't even see.

But here's the question I keep coming back to: Is it doing the right work?

The Cheating Problem

A friend of mine—a fellow engineer who now teaches at a community college—has watched AI-assisted cheating become epidemic. Students dump their math homework into ChatGPT, copy the answer, and move on.

No thinking required.

Which raises the question I care about deeply: What happens to problem-solving skills when we outsource the problem-solving?

I write books specifically designed to help kids develop critical thinking, creativity, and the confidence to tackle hard things. The whole premise of my TEDx talk idea—Choose, Fail, Grow—is that the struggle is where the learning happens.

Hand the struggle to AI, and you've handed away the learning too.

That worries me. A lot.

The Promise (When Used Well)

That said—AI is genuinely extraordinary when it's used as a tool, not a replacement for thinking.

At GE, we watched something similar happen with computing power. The fear was: Will computers take our jobs? What actually happened: more design configurations analyzed, better optimization, faster answers. The bar was raised. The work got better.

I think AI is the next version of that.

For indie authors like me, AI means I can create marketing assets—social media posts, ad copy, newsletter drafts—without a large budget. That's a genuine game-changer when you're building a following from scratch.

But—and this is the critical part—AI doesn't always get the gist right. It still needs a human in the loop who can evaluate the results, catch the errors, and ask the right questions in the first place.

Garbage in, garbage out. That hasn't changed.

The Tool Trap

I've been exploring a new marketing tool from Adazing this week that builds a full marketing playbook. Still a few bugs, but promising. I've also been taking a click-testing course from Steve Pieper—because as one of my coaches likes to say, you've got to test everything. Headlines, images, ad copy—all of it, before you spend real money.

AI can help with all of that. But here's the trap I see some authors falling into:

I know someone who spends every group coaching call showing off his elaborate AI systems for automating social media posts. Impressive automation. Beautiful images. Consistent posting schedule.

His books aren't selling.

Because activity isn't the same as strategy. AI can help you execute faster. It can't tell you what's worth executing.

Bottom Line

AI is a remarkable assistant. It can polish rough words, compress long processes, and help you accomplish more in less time. Mark Twain would have loved it—and probably distrusted it in equal measure.

But it can't replace: