Marc von HolzenHow To Start Learning AI
If you’re curious about AI but don’t know where to start, you’re not alone. The explosion of AI tools can feel overwhelming, but getting started is simpler than you think. Here’s a practical approach.
Table of Contents
Why Should I?
Your job is more likely to be replaced by someone using AI than by AI directly. Understanding what it’s good at, where its limits are, and how to use it effectively is critical for all of us.
As a career software engineer, I am witnessing first hand its effect on my profession. This technology will only get better and is here to stay. But beyond mere obligation, these new tools also offer new “powers” that can be fun to explore and wield.
Pick One Tool
No need to learn several at once. Just pick one and stick with it for a while:
They’re all capable and all free, at least to start. The differences matter less than you think when you’re starting out.
Chat First
Start with typing. It’s the simplest interface and lets you think through what you’re asking. You can see your question, edit it before sending, and easily refer back to the conversation. Once you’re comfortable with the rhythm of conversing with AI, you can explore other modes, in particular voice chat.
Test It With Something You Know
Ask it about something you understand well. Your work, your hobby, your field of expertise. This is how you calibrate. You’ll quickly see where it’s accurate, where it’s confident but wrong, and where it admits uncertainty. This is essential learning that you can only get by testing against your own knowledge. Remember that it won’t have access to any private information you may have (or at least it should not). For example, it won’t know about anything specific to your job that has not been made public.
Find Its Limits
Push it. Ask it to do something it shouldn’t be able to do. Try tasks that require up-to-the-minute information. See where it breaks down. Understanding the boundaries is just as important as understanding the capabilities. You’re not trying to catch it out, you’re learning where to trust it and where to stay skeptical.
Don’t get frustrated if it’s wrong or repeats itself, sending you in loops of “You are right!”. Remember that these systems are designed to encourage engagement, much like social networks. By design, they will be agreeable, validate your experience, behave like sycophants. In fact, try to tell it to be honest and more direct with you and observe how its responses change. Test those boundaries also.
Use Voice On A Walk
After you’ve gotten comfortable with chat, try the voice feature. Take it on a walk. Something changes when you’re moving and talking naturally, not staring at a screen. You’ll discover a different way of thinking with AI, more spontaneous and conversational. Some of my best insights have come while walking and talking through a problem.
Be aware of one challenge however: the tool might not be very good (yet) at determining when you have finished speaking, and might start answering while you are mid-thought. One solution to this is to pepper your speech with “hums” and “ahh”, so it hears you are still speaking. Claude takes a different approach, asking you click anywhere on the screen when you are done speaking.
Organize a Stream of Consciousness
But this can actually lead to a fun exercise: try speaking off the cuff, without thinking too much about what you’re saying. Give it a stream of consciousness and ask it to repeat it or synthesize it. You might be surprised at how much it understood and how well it can organize your thoughts for you. I have found this to be particularly useful.
Learn Something With It
One key difference between an AI and a human is that it won’t get tired. It will approach every conversation anew, with the same enthusiasm it had last time you talked with it. This means you should not censor yourself. There truly are no stupid questions.
Use it to explore something new. A topic you’ve been curious about, a skill you want to develop. Let it explain concepts, suggest resources, help you think through problems. This is where AI shines: as a patient, always-available learning companion that can meet you at your level and adjust as you grow.
In fact, ask it to quiz you on the topic after you’ve gained some understanding. It can process your explanations and assess whether you have in fact understood the topic. Take a moment to appreciate how novel this is.
Don’t Delegate Everything
Use AI as a thought partner, not a replacement for thinking. Let it help you explore ideas, but make sure you’re still doing the mental work. The goal isn’t to have AI do things for you, it’s to augment your own capabilities. You should come away from each interaction having learned something or thought more deeply about something, not just having checked a box.
What Next?
If you find this type of content interesting, send me some feedback marc@vonholzen.org or follow me on Instagram @mholzen.