How to Use AI to Learn How to Use AI

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The most effective way to become a power user of AI tools is to ask the AI itself for instructions, use cases, and optimal prompts. Treating the AI like a librarian rather than a search engine unlocks features and workflows you wouldn't discover on your own.

Figuring out how to use AI is a task in and of itself. It can feel overwhelming, like staring at a blank page that could do almost anything, with no hint where to start.

I think users should ask AI how to use AI.

It sounds recursive, almost silly: like Googling "how to use Google." In practice, Googling how to use Google is one of the most effective ways to become a power user. You learn about search operators, image filters, and tools you never knew existed.

For some people, the idea of asking a tool how to use it feels like an admission of defeat. It might seem to prove that the AI isn't intuitive or "smart" enough if it requires a manual. The same logic applies to a library: asking a librarian how to use the catalog and stacks is often the single most useful conversation you can have in that building.

A librarian doesn't just find a book for you; they teach you how the catalog works, where the rare archives are hidden, and how to navigate the vast ocean of information yourself.

This is just another way of asking the resource you have available how to better use that resource.

Try this prompt today:

"I want to use you to help me organize my life/work/studies better. List 5 specific ways you can help me that I might not know about. Please teach me the best prompts to use for each one."

It’s kind of amazing what you can learn about how you can use AI, just by asking AI. It turns the tool into a teacher, and suddenly, that blank page isn't so empty anymore. It becomes a map.