I just spent four days in the Finger Lakes with friends. Good food. And a lot of laughs.

After two discovery calls and one proposal decline in a week and a half, I was eager to get away for some rest and relaxation. Maybe even give my digital assistants, Claude and ChatGPT, a break.

But then one friend sent a funny picture of him and another friend on a hike. And, well, I couldn’t resist.

Ninety seconds and a simple image prompt later, thanks to AI the friends look like Thelma and Louise in the last scene of the iconic movie. Everyone howled. And I spent the rest of the weekend, inadvertently, as the AI guy.

While that felt really good, and it did, the reason for me to share this story isn’t so I can teach you how to use AI to edit an image.

No. It was the quiet, one-on-one conversations I had after the laughter died. When two people got real. And concerned.

Straight Talk After the Laughs

One new-to-me person, after they’d asked how I work on AI with people, nodded. They paused, then said something like, “yeah, we’re trying to figure it out. And it’s coming so fast. Like there’s no telling where this is all going to go, but it’s not going away.”

I couldn’t have agreed with them more. As I’ve written before, there are many justifiable reasons why people are hesitant to use AI.

But pushing past the reluctance is the right move because artificial intelligence is not a fad. It isn’t going to follow the trajectory of Pet Rocks or Hair Bands.

The second person I talked with knows it.

They’re actively experimenting with AI in their personal life. Using it for things from simple research to helping work through complicated problems.

And although they shared the same conviction that AI is coming fast, they took a different tack when we talked.

Practical Preparation

Turns out they read many of my posts. I know some people read them, but I didn’t know this friend was paying that close attention.

I knew for sure they read the posts, though, when they told me that I say, over and over again, that it’s never too late to get started. That you just need to begin to learn it because it’s coming. AI is here. We’ve got to figure it out.

How am I sure my friend is doing that?

Simple tells, really. When ChatGPT updated the power of its voice models a couple weeks ago, I texted my friend the news.

A few days later, they called me. Didn’t text back. They were so gobsmacked at what they experienced with the new model, they had to share the news.

My friend is doing it. They’re getting familiar with a model, leveraging it, learning along the way, and now are so familiar that they feel when its capabilities leap ahead.

You can too.

Roll Up Your Sleeves

After this weekend and the conversations I had, I’m convinced I have not been needlessly repeating myself. The message is just going to take longer to land for some.

If you think you’ve missed the AI bus, that there’s no way you can catch up, you’re dead wrong. The fun is only beginning.

Open an AI chat, and do something totally off the wall. Don’t try for a scientific breakthrough. Just have fun.

Hand the chatbot a picture of your dog and tell it to create a comic book starring your pet as a crime fighting superhero. Open voice mode and ask it to explain how we know the earth orbits the sun in the voice of Leonardo da Vinci.

Do something totally unique and see what happens. Maybe you’ll be surprised. Maybe you’ll be disappointed.

The point of the exercise is the experience. Just by using the tool, by interacting with AI, you’ll start to see how it could be used.

Or book a 15-minute, free, no-commitment call at this link to talk with me about AI.

I’ve been honored to spark my friend’s curiosity and exploration. Let me help light your AI path so you too can stop fretting and start preparing.