Ethan Mollick Article Review: When to Use & Avoid AI

Welcome to episode 120 of the Technical Writing Success podcast from the Curt Robbins & Associates Technical Writing Agency.

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Today’s episode explores an article from professor Ethan Mollick at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania entitled "15 Times to Use AI, and 5 Not To" that was published on December 9, 2024.

Hosts Daphne and Fred share their spirited unpacking of this educational article from AI expert Mollick and what it teaches technical writers and documentation specialists about the pros and cons of using AI in their work.

Writes Mollick: "Knowing when to use AI turns out to be a form of wisdom, not just technical knowledge. Like most wisdom, it's somewhat paradoxical: AI is often most useful where we're already expert enough to spot its mistakes, yet least helpful in the deep work that made us experts in the first place. It works best for tasks we could do ourselves but shouldn't waste time on, yet can actively harm our learning when we use it to skip necessary struggles. And perhaps most importantly, wisdom means knowing that these patterns will keep shifting as AI capabilities evolve, and as more research comes in, requiring us to keep questioning our assumptions about where it helps and where it hinders."

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>> Read the original Mollick article: https://tinyurl.com/mvwrj6w8

>> Read the Curt Robbins article "Helping Junior Technical Writers": https://tinyurl.com/yc82h4j7

>> Read the Robbins article "10 Famous Technical Writers": https://tinyurl.com/5ejznknw

>> Read the Robbins article "Tech Writers: Embrace Structured Content": https://tinyurl.com/32ysxm3v

>> Read the Robbins article "Role of User Experience in Tech Writing": https://tinyurl.com/mrdtenbb

>> Subscribe to the AI for Technical Writers podcast: https://tinyurl.com/mppehxtn