AI Ethicist Rebecca Bultsma on Trust, Verification, and When NOT to Use AI in Your Shop | Ep. 52

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AI can write your emails, summarize your shop’s performance, and help you make your next big decision. But how do you know when it deserves your confidence—and when it just sounds convincing?

On this episode of Lights Out, Nick and Eric sit down with AI ethicist Rebecca Boltsma to explore the questions that rarely make it into the sales pitch. When does automating communication put a customer relationship at risk? What happens when a shop leader starts making decisions based on AI-generated insights? And where’s the line between getting help with your thinking and handing it over?

Rebecca uses these tools every day, and her enthusiasm comes with some uncomfortable questions. What starts with AI in business gets personal when Nick brings up a question from his daughter: Is AI good or bad? It’s a simple question that proves much harder to answer.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (0:00) Meet Rebecca Bultsma, the AI ethicist
• (4:12) What AI ethics covers, from funny photos to sentience
• (5:21) Is AI good or bad? A hammer, money, and the super serum
• (7:43) Hennig WorkFlow: A compact automated pallet system
• (8:34) Rebecca’s mantra: Clarity creates agency
• (10:36) Authenticity in sales, AI-written emails, and customer pushback
• (12:42) Ethics is trade-offs: the Outback versus Rome tip test
• (16:11) AI as a thought partner, not ghostwriter: dictation and devil’s advocate
• (20:18) Voice principles files and why newsletters still need a human
• (21:52) Why we created Hire MFG Leaders (and why you should use it)
• (22:21) Are we reverting to hieroglyphics? Literacy in the AI era
• (24:42) AI-made machine tool rankings and the loss of trust
• (26:40) Deepfake research agents, the $25M Zoom fraud, and trust but verify
• (30:12) The dog and wolf experiment: snow as a pattern
• (31:30) Navu gives buyers real-time answers on specs, materials, and lead times
• (32:42) AI insights in machine monitoring data
• (36:48) Automation bias and the radiologist study
• (37:43) A 3D printing debate and why you should demand sources
• (40:55) Kennametal helps machines cut faster and run longer
• (41:44) Does AI have a political agenda?
• (45:39) Putting your kids online in the age of deepfakes

Resources Mentioned

• Hennig WorkFlow
• Navu
• Hire MFG Leaders
• Kennametal

Connect with Rebecca Bultsma

• Rebecca Bultsma Website
• Rebecca Bultsma on LinkedIn
• Rebecca Bultsma on Substack