The secret of people who actually learn to work with AI

Recently I asked participants in my AI programme one simple question:

How many hours did you spend last week learning and experimenting with AI?

The results confirmed something I had suspected: the most important factor in using artificial intelligence well has nothing to do with the tools themselves.

The numbers are clear

More than 40% of participants spent over 8 hours a week on learning.

Eight hours. Per week.

This is not about playing around with something for a few minutes.

This is deep work with AI, an investment in your own future.

Looking at those results, I realised this is the one thing every person who has truly mastered AI has in common.

It is not a skill. It is not a technical background. It is the willingness to put in the time.

Why does it work this way?

AI is not like a spreadsheet, where you learn one formula and it works the same way forever.

You have to try different tools, different models, different prompts, and above all, keep iterating and finding the path to the right result.

Seth Godin described it perfectly in his piece on using (and designing) tools:

“Because we are ‘too busy to learn,’ we get frustrated that we are not using our tools correctly. We blame the tools instead of learning to use them.”

Modern tools are simply so complex that most people use only a fraction of their potential. Often precisely because of a “too busy to learn” mindset. But this is not a question of time. It is a question of motivation and priorities. And of the ambition and decision to simply dedicate a little more to it than you do today.

Waiting for a miracle

You have to accept that experimentation will not save you any time at first. Often quite the opposite. What you gain, however, is something far more valuable: better intuition for where AI helps and where it does not. And that value grows and compounds over time.

This was confirmed to me recently by several messages from participants in my Future AI Leader programme. I think they are worth sharing.

One participant wrote:

“After every session I go like a small child to the chatbot and ‘chatbot’ all the things I heard about — I heard about XY, can you please explain what it could be used for…”

I love this. When someone refuses to be satisfied with not understanding something and wants to figure it out and use it. Because this is exactly the curiosity and mindset we need most in the age of AI.

Another participant, with no programming background whatsoever, built an app to compare grocery prices across different stores:

“I’d like to share what FAIL inspired me to do after two Fridays… After about an hour of work I had version 1.0… I feel like the gates of heaven opened… and unfortunately another hole in my wallet appeared 😄”

One hour of work. No programming background. Just the willingness to try something new. And at the end of it all: a working application.

This message moved me the most:

“I want to thank you for the dramatic shift in my thinking and mindset over just 2 lessons of FAIL… I am not a tech person. I have been in sales my whole career. My world is PowerPoint, Excel and client meetings. I have minimal experience building assistants and agents. But after 2.5 hours this evening I am well on my way to having one fully practical one.”

And then came this wonderful metaphor:

“I can confirm the centuries-old truth that it pays to take the time to replace the square wheel on your cart with a round one…”

2.5 hours. This evening.

That is what it is all about

Finding the time. Asking about things I do not understand. Trying something I have never tried before.

Everything else we already have. Including an assistant, a tutor and an expert available 24/7, ready to help us work through anything the moment we need it. Yes, I am talking about AI.

As Seth Godin puts it: “Once you find tools worth learning, learn them.”

Try it tonight. Or tomorrow evening. Or this weekend.

If you do not find the time now, you will not find it next time either.

FD