Experience Level: Any level of experience

In an earlier PE Institute session I examined what engineers owe the public. This is the operational sequel: what a leader does on Monday morning when a tool arrives that makes those obligations harder to discharge.

Engineering leaders are being pushed to move fast on AI and automation while their teams push back - and that pushback is often labeled resistance to change when it is something else. For a licensed professional engineer, adopting a tool that drafts, calculates, or designs is not a productivity question. It is a Responsible Charge question. The seal is personal, and "the software generated it" has never been a defense.

The session works through NSPE Board of Ethical Review Case 24-2, Use of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Practice, where an engineer's AI-assisted report was largely defensible and the AI-assisted design documents were not. The most instructive detail is a leadership detail: the engineer's mentor and quality-assurance reviewer had retired and had not been replaced. The tool did not remove the review layer. The organization did.

Attendees leave with a working method: how to tell four kinds of resistance apart, and five leadership moves covering the accountability line, surfacing tools already in use, tiering work by consequence, rebuilding the review layer, and talking honestly about job change - plus a 90-day sequence they can start Monday.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Tell professional-standards resistance apart from competence, identity, and change-fatigue resistance - and respond to each differently.

2. Apply the Responsible Charge standard (NSPE PS 10-1778) to AI-assisted work products.

3. Tier AI-assisted work by consequence using five factors, including licensure exposure.

4. Set verification and documentation proportional to that tier, including what was not checked.

5. Talk to a team about automation without promising what cannot be promised.

1 PDH

Pricing:

NSPE Members: FREE

Non-members: $75.00 (Join NSPE today and save on this purchase.)

To register, add this webinar to your shopping cart and check-out in the NSPE e-store. 

Dr. Derek A. Smith, D.S.L., Founder & Principal, AI Governance & Security

Experience Level: Any level of experience

The 2023 implosion of the TITAN submersible in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean created a media storm of speculation and conjecture.  By the time the US Coast Guard held hearings for the Marine Board of Investigation in September 2024, much of the conjecture was replaced by facts. However, for most people, the first time they heard of “OceanGate” or “Stockton Rush” was after the implosion, so their understanding of these events was colored by knowing the TITAN ends in disaster. The fact of the matter is that Stockton Rush was winning until he lost.  He was lauded as an innovator and disruptor. OceanGate’s decision to reject codes and standards for their third submarine, the TITAN, was done in the name of innovation.  This essentially recreated the conditions of the Age of Steam that caused the codification of engineering and the development of engineering registration. Many of the things that have been pointed to as “wrong”, such as using college interns or even the use of carbon fiber, were not wrong in principle but in execution.  One of the overlooked aspects was the nature of the engineering required a Professional Engineer at several stages. This presentation will outline the behind-the-scenes aspects of OceanGate with respect to engineering, engineering management, and engineering ethics. The presentation will also offer how these lessons extend to other areas of new technology, such as AI and data centers, the role of codes and standards, and how to better safeguard the public with respect to emerging technology. 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the events related to OceanGate and the implosion of the TITAN submersible, to include the significance of rejecting engineering codes and standards and the role of innovation.

2. List the major issues regarding the engineering, engineering management, and engineering ethics with respect to OceanGate and the implosion of the TITAN submersible.

3. Describe the role of Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ) with respect to innovation.

4. Identify key engineering ethics issues and describe how they apply to emerging technologies and other areas with developing or no engineering codes and standards.

5. List possible ways to mitigate the risks associated with these engineering ethics issues.

1 PDH

Pricing:

NSPE Members: FREE

Non-members: $75.00 (Join NSPE today and save on this purchase.)

To register, add this webinar to your shopping cart and check-out in the NSPE e-store. 

Bart Kemper, PE, DFE, F.ASME, F.NSPE, Principal Engineer

Experience Level: Any level of experience

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing both engineering practice and the infrastructure that supports it; creating new questions for licensed engineers around professional responsibility, ethics, liability, regulation, and public safety. The NSPE AI Workgroup is examining how these changes affect the PE’s obligations and the practical use of predictive, generative, and agentic AI in engineering. Through outreach to academia, engineering firms, the insurance sector, and the legal community, the Workgroup is gathering perspectives on emerging risks and gaps in current practice. This work is being translated into education and guidance that can help engineers understand and responsibly manage AI-related risks. The Workgroup is also exploring policy recommendations on emerging issues, including the ethical responsibilities of engineers involved in the design and development of AI-driven infrastructure such as data centers. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that professional engineering practice and policy remains flexible enough to adopt Emerging technologies like AI while maintaining the PE’s fundamental obligation to protect public health, safety, and welfare. 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify key ways AI is changing engineering practice and professional responsibilities of licensed engineers.

2. Recognize emerging ethical, legal, liability and regulatory considerations associated with the use of AI in engineering.

3. Learn how the NSPE AI workgroup is working to to drive education and policy recommendations for the engineering profession.

1 PDH

Pricing:

NSPE Members: FREE

Non-members: $75.00 (Join NSPE today and save on this purchase.)

To register, add this webinar to your shopping cart and check-out in the NSPE e-store. 

Girija Subramaniam, P.E., President

Details coming soon!

Details coming soon!

Details coming soon!