Artificial intelligence was used extensively in the preparation of Book I, particularly in researching, organizing, and examining the historical development of mechanics and structural analysis. I worked with tools from both Anthropic and OpenAI throughout this process. AI was also used more moderately in the technical books, including selected derivations, explanations, computational tasks, and editorial review.
All AI-assisted material was independently examined, revised, and approved by the author. Nevertheless, this experience demonstrated both the considerable usefulness of these tools and their capacity to produce convincing but incomplete, misleading, or incorrect results.
I invite readers, educators, students, researchers, and practicing engineers to discuss the appropriate role of AI in structural analysis. Where has it proved genuinely useful? Where has it failed? What standards of verification, transparency, and professional judgment should govern its use in teaching, research, design, and forensic analysis?
Contributions involving specific examples are particularly welcome, provided that confidential project information is omitted.