🐝🌿Scared of AI? That’s Exactly Why You Should Learn It

#149 - We're Back With a Brilliant Guestpost. Are You Ready for Future?

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🐝🌿Confidence leads to Better Lifestyle Choices — and Smarter Habits lead to Natural Longevity in Life & Business.

That’s the Mission of The Fearless YOU, read by 750+ Millennial Change-Makers and Small Business Owners. 4x/week 🐝🌿

Hello and welcome back, Fearless Friend

📌In Today’s Edition

We're back from our Easter break — a beautiful time spent with family, friends, and yes, you guessed it... our vegetable garden.

Spring is in full swing, and the seedlings don’t wait: transplanting, grooming, and everything in between kept us busy. So if you missed me — thank you.

I’ve been producing not just words, but food. The two most important kinds of work, if you ask me.

But today, I’m handing pen and paper to someone else:

Today’s guest post comes from

James Presbitero

— a sharp, successful young entrepreneur making waves on Substack.

In his piece, he tackles the fear many feel around AI and flips it into a powerful reason to lean in, not back away. It’s a quick, eye-opening read that might just shift how you see the future.

Make sure to check out

James Presbitero

Substack while you're at it — it's packed with insights and well worth a subscribe.

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📌Featured

📌Deep Dive

Scared of AI? That’s Exactly Why You Should Learn It

AI is already here — and it’s not going anywhere. So, what now?

You’re not crazy for feeling intimidated around AI.

It’s everywhere. In your browser, your inbox, your writing apps. It’s evolving faster than most of us can keep up with—and if you’re someone who didn’t grow up with this kind of tech, it can feel like you’re trying to jump onto a moving train with no handrails.

I get it. I really do.

I’ve been exactly where you are right now

When ChatGPT dropped, I was a freelance writer riding the wave of online success. Within months, 90% of my income vanished. Clients ghosted, downsized, or traded me in for cheaper, AI-augmented writers.

The message was loud and clear: the writing industry is over.

At the time, AI wasn’t even that good. But it was good enough to shake the ground beneath me. How much better would it get, and how much bigger would its impact be? Becoming a writer seemed to be a dead-end career.

But at the same time, I looked at AI and saw a vast potential. This was a technology that could change everything, and I have a chance to be a part of it.

Not just survive the wave, but ride it.

So, what if there was a way to succeed despite AI? Then and there, I realized something that changed everything:

I could either continue to live in fear of it, or learn how to use it.

So I made a choice. I dove into the technology. And surprisingly? I didn’t drown, but swam. Slowly at first. Then with confidence.

I've since talked to dozens of people—especially in their 40s and 50s—say things like, “I want to learn AI, but I just don’t know where to start.” And I’ve watched their eyes light up the moment they generate their first idea in ChatGPT. That spark, that’s wonder and curiosity waking back up. And it's still in you.

The fear of AI isn’t just all about the tech. That’s a big part of it, but that’s not everything.

Instead, it’s about identity. About relevance. So now, I’ve revised my thinking:

Avoiding AI means avoiding growth

Technology isn’t going to slow down and wait for us to feel ready.

Seth Godin once said that AI is like electricity during the Industrial Revolution. The technology was deeply suspected -- it was dangerous, even lethal. People feared all its negative implications. Early adopters were mocked. There was fear, uncertainty.

But the companies that didn’t adapt? They’re now footnotes in history books.

Let me put it plainly:

Opting out doesn’t pause progress. It just puts you behind it.

On the other hand, participating means a couple of things.

It lets me participate in the conversation

Listen, I have a humble background, growing up in a developing country decades behind any meaningful social or economic progress. I wasn’t living in extreme poverty, but I knew how important it is to have all the advantages you can get.

So you can best believe I don’t want tech disadvantages to add to my long list of disadvantages. I didn’t want to be behind progress, but ahead.

It lets me participate in the conversation

What helped me survive that shift wasn’t just confidence. It was adaptability. I embraced the discomfort of learning AI and how I can best work with it, and not be replaced by it. But not just that, but I also learned its implications, both the good and the bad.

Through this, I didn’t just get clients. I didn’t just create a coaching business teaching people how to write with AI. I’ve informed myself of the technology. I have a firm grasp of its strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. I’m learning its philosophical, ethical, and social implications.

And it’s pretty dang cool.

But not just that.

It helps my business

It makes me employable, because bosses and contractors want someone who knows how to think about these new technologies. My business is poised for success, because it addresses an emerging mega-trend in a way that’s never been seen before.

But best of all, it lets me participate in the conversation. Through this knowledge, I can contribute my informed voice and shape the future of this technology.

Avoiding it to feel “safe”? That’s like refusing to learn email in the ’90s. You don’t get to opt out of the future. You just get left behind.

To understand AI, you’ve got to use it

Here’s something that might surprise you: the best way to understand AI isn’t to ignore it.

But it’s also not to read a hundred articles or take a ten-week course.

It’s to use it.

You won’t know what it’s capable of or what it can’t do until you’ve played with it, tested it, and seen how it works in your world. Only then can you form a real opinion. Only then can you participate in the conversation.

But many are hesitant, and I feel it’s because of unanswered questions. Like, how do they begin? What things should they let AI do, and what should remain their own work?

Let me share the framework I use. I call it the Three Layers of AI-Augmentation. Imagine yourself in three layers, as such:

1. Core: 100% Human

The very first thing is to know who you are, and this means knowing your core.

This is you -- your inner world.

Your personal reflections, your values, your unique voice. These are the thoughts that make you you, and the actions that reinforce it. This is your mission, vision, values, opinions, all the things that differentiate one human from another.

When you’re choosing to engage with AI, having an unshakable core is a must.

This is the bastion of your humanity, and while it helps reinforce your use of any tool, none may touch it.

Therefore, this is sacred ground.

No AI is allowed here because this space houses who you are.

So, identify your values and what you won’t let AI handle. This is your core.

2. Mantle: Human-led, AI-augmented

This is the sweet spot for collaboration -- the perfect blend of AI tools and human values.

Now that you know yourself, your values, and the aspects of your life that you won’t let AI touch, try to identify the areas that you do need help with.

In content creation, or at work, these are the repetitive parts, the areas of your job you’re weak in. Or, it could be where AI can create the most impact per unit of time.

In the mantle reside all the tasks that AI can augment. This is key: not replace, augment. You still hold the reins, and that means these tasks require your direction, emotional nuance, and personal connection.

For me, this is where I brainstorm with AI, use it to challenge my ideas, generate outlines, or rewrite rough drafts.

What about you?

3. Crust: Fully delegatable

This is the outermost layer—the surface-level tasks that don’t require emotional depth or personal nuance.

Summarizing articles, formatting content, organizing notes, even repurposing material into bullet points or emails. These are areas where AI thrives, and honestly, where it frees up my time the most.

It’s like having an eager, tireless assistant who’s happy to handle the grunt work so I can focus on the human stuff.

AI is here, and it will change things

If you think things are crazy right now, you don’t even know the half of it.

The world will change because of AI. And it’s beyond the current hype. AI isn’t just the LLMs we know and love. It’s the AI agents we’ll soon see embedded in every app and hardware. It’s the intelligence behind new medicine. It’s the force behind industries we can’t even begin to imagine.

When you’re learning AI, you’re not just learning a new skill. You’re building a new relationship—with technology, yes, but also with yourself.

You’re choosing to become more future-ready.

More antifragile.

So, if you’re scared of AI, learn it. You have everything you need now.

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Thanks for reading,

James

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📌Action Tip

Enjoyed the read? Me too.

I fully agree with James — no matter our age, we need to keep pace with new technologies. It’s not just about staying relevant in a fast-changing world — it also keeps our minds sharp and curious.

If you're ready to dip your toes into the world of AI, these two tools are a great place to start:

Writing Notes with AI help and How to Make Money with ChatGPT

As always,

to your freedom and health,

Daniel

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📌Question:

What’s your level of AI experience? Just started or already a pro?

Wanna share with us in a comment?

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