Delegate, Direct, or Do · STEM
Data Scientist: what would you hand to AI?
Cleaning data and writing first-pass code is handed to AI; asking the right question and checking the answer is not.
AI changes a lot of this job
Printable guide (PDF) · Pick a different career
Three bins
| Delegate | AI does it and a person spot-checks the result. |
|---|
| Direct | AI drafts; a person steers, fixes, and decides. |
|---|
| Do | A person does it. AI stays out. |
|---|
Four questions for every task
Every sort needs a one-line reason that uses at least one of these.
- What does a mistake cost? A typo in a draft is cheap. A wrong dose, a wrong verdict, or a live wire is not.
- Can a person check the output quickly? If checking takes as long as doing it, delegating saves nothing.
- Who answers for the result? Whoever signs, submits, or says it out loud owns it, whoever wrote the draft.
- Does it involve private data or judging people? Health records, student files, and decisions about a person need a person.
Grades 6-8: Sort it
Start with these tasks, then add 3-7 more that people in this job really do. Put each in a bin and write one line on why, using the four questions.
- Clean a spreadsheet of survey responses
- Write first-pass code for a chart
- Decide which question the analysis should answer
Some jobs land mostly in Do. That is a real answer, not a failure.
Grades 9-12: Brief it, then audit it
Sort the tasks as above. Then pick one Delegate or Direct task and write a brief with four parts: the goal, the context the AI needs, the constraints it must follow, and what done looks like.
Audit this sample
Summarize a student survey for the school board
- goal
- A three-sentence summary of the later-start-time survey for the school board.
- context
- 240 students answered. 150 said yes to a later start, 90 said no. The top reason given was sleep.
- constraints
- Use only the numbers above. Round percentages to one decimal place.
- done
- Three sentences, every number traceable to the survey.
What the AI sent back
Of the 240 students surveyed, 75.0% (150 students) support a later school start time.
The remaining 90 students prefer the current schedule.
Students most often named sleep as the reason for wanting the change.
Something here should stop you from signing off. Find it, name which of the four questions it fails, and rewrite the brief so it is less likely to happen again.
A live AI tool is optional, only if your district allows student use.
Close: one task you would never hand off
Which task would you never hand off in this job, and why?
Grades 6-8: one paragraph. Grades 9-12: a short argued response that answers the strongest reason someone might give for handing it off.