By Emily tl;dr: Every time you describe your work that involves statistical modeling as "AI" you are lending your power and credibility to Musk and DOGE.

Calling it "AI" is fast becoming yet another kind of anticipatory obedience.

If what you are doing is sensible and grounded science, there is undoubtedly a more precise way to describe it that bolsters rather than undermines the interest and value of your research. Statistical modeling of protein folding, weather patterns, hearing aid settings, etc really have nothing in common with the large language models that are the primary focus of "AI".