This is absolutely a huge issue. In today's world, one needs Tech as one of several tools. Think about when PC's became popular back in the 80's, pretty much everybody had to learn how to use them. That didn't mean that knowledge on how to setup a computer (e.g. IT) drove your activities, any more than details on how a car engine works is required to drive a car. I'm a pilot, I don't know how to design and build an airplane - and aeronautical engineers typically are not pilots. And the same is happening with AI - people across the board need to know how this technology will affect their work and how to use it.

I'm a very senior architect for a huge tech company - Engineering and IT do what I tell them to do. The biggest problem, by far, is lack of soft skills. STEM is just another tool to learn, but if you can't work together well with people, communicate, understand customer requirements, understand how what you're doing fits into the larger system and the roadmap, understand at the system level how to integrate new technologies - it doesn't matter how good your technical skills are. Focus on STEM just de-emphasizes the soft skills and gives geeks a way to get back the power they feel they never had, and that is the biggest problem.

This same "right brain / left brain" issue is true across so many disciplines. I'm also a jazz/cabaret/rock pianist and singer who performs weekly in Manhattan. My appeal is less about my technical skills - because I'm an entertainer. You need a basic level of technical skills on the piano to be an entertainer, but at some point it's more about your energy, creativity, connecting to the audience, choice of music, etc. I know many singers and pianists who better than me and it annoys them when people rather listen to me. (e.g. how many boring torch songs can you sing?)

And the same is true in Tech - you need a basic minimal level of technical skills (STEM, Software, Hardware, etc.), but your soft skills are going to make the biggest difference.

And the same is true in AI. You know need to how to use it, just like a pilot needs to know how to fly a plane, or my mother needs to know how to drive a car, not how to build it. You only need to know a basic level of design to understand the different options available and how to help the builders make something that is best suited to your needs.

Of course, a big question is why are the soft skills being de-emphasized? It is stupidity, or it it a conspiracy to dumb us down to control us. Here is one of my favorite quotes (from Robert Greene):

Far more damage is done by stupid incompetent people than by evil people.