Stacy L. Chin warns that AI speeds up writing but cannot replace the strategic thinking reviewers actually assess. Founders must still do customer discovery, build commercialization strategies, and identify technical risks themselves to win federal funding.
AI can absolutely help you write faster, organize your ideas, improve clarity. I mean, we love AI, we use it ourselves, but AI cannot perform customer discovery, develop your commercialization strategy, identify the most important technical risks, or think critically why your startup deserves federal funding. And I've seen founders copy and paste from ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini, read it back and think, wow, this sounds amazing. Let's go and submit this application. But the problem here is that reviewers aren't evaluating how well AI writes. They're evaluating how well you think. So use AI to accelerate your writing as your companion, but do not let it replace your strategy.
Applying for NIH SBIR in Jan 5, 2027? You Should Be Starting NOW. Here's why...
How to Get Invited to Apply for $305K in NSF SBIR Funding || Step-by-Step Guide
