You can’t learn what AI is by reading about it.

“You can’t learn what AI is by reading about it. You can only learn by using it.”
– Sam Altman

This week, I finally got it.

I’ve dabbled with AI over the past year — tested some prompts, explored the hype. But it wasn’t until this week that I made the leap from dabbler to designer.

I stopped tinkering. I paid for the subscription. And I started using AI intentionally.

And it blew my mind.

In just a few days with AI:

- Had a 20min realtime conversation and got tailored guidance on how to rebalance my investment portfolio

- Acted as a virtual medical specialist who helped diagnose a lingering shoulder issue

- Created a savy marketing strategist who could translate my rough ideas into keynote-ready narratives, complete with visuals

- Built an interactive learning quiz to test my own knowledge gaps about AI methods and prompt engineering

And yes — I even used it to help compose this post, summarizing the conversations I’ve had with AI over the past week.

Here’s what I’ve realized:

You don’t need to be technical.
You don’t need a grand strategy.
You just need to be curious.
You just need to start.

This isn’t a “read-the-manual” kind of technology — it’s something you learn by doing.

So if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to lean in — this is it.

Stop tinkering. Start building.