I keep noticing this tension toward AI, and by default, toward anyone who’s actually trying to understand it. We’re not learning this stuff (necessarily) to build personas or position ourselves as experts. We’re doing it because the tools are clearly becoming part of the world, and it feels smarter to understand them than to pretend they will go away. It’s curiosity mixed with practicality (and anyone paying attention can feel that). People like us get pulled in because it just makes sense.
And when you spend that much time trying to understand something new, of course you want to share it. Not for status or clout, but because you’re actually excited about it. But the second you say anything about AI in public, people assume there has to be some hidden motive tucked underneath.
If you’re learning it, you must be doing something shady.
Either you’re stealing from artists, or trying to replace people, or gearing up to sell a course and cash out.
A lot of people don’t want to look at AI at all, and their refusal gets so strong that they start assuming bad intentions from anyone who does. Our curiosity ends up being misread simply because it challenges the story they’re holding onto.
What makes that reaction funny is how detached it is from reality. Most people don’t want anything to do with AI right now. Nobody is lining up to buy AI artwork or music. Nobody is begging for instruction on how to use ChatGPT. The idea that you could get rich selling a course on something the average person is actively avoiding (and heavily stigmatized) is absurd. But the suspicion sticks anyway, because suspicion is easier than curiosity.
And even if someone did make a course, why would that be a bad thing? When did education become something to sneer at? When have we ever gone through a massive technological shift without people needing to re-skill?
It happens every time.
Something big changes, and the people paying attention help everyone else get up to speed. That isn’t exploitation, it's adaptation. You watch the world tilt, and then you go learn the thing you now need to know.
People project because they don’t want to feel behind.
You’ve probably felt that in the way people respond to you talking about AI. They need to put you in a box so they don’t have to think about what they’re avoiding, so they'll try to bully you.
But that has nothing to do with you.
That’s just someone trying to protect their comfort. We both know it’s a fear of status loss, money loss, or just plain gatekeeping. "You didn't do it like me, so therefore you're a cheater!"
There’s nothing wrong with sharing what you know.
If you’ve spent the time, if you’ve pushed through the confusing parts, if you’ve made sense of something most people still won’t touch, you’re allowed to talk about it. You’re allowed to be excited! You’re allowed to create something that helps someone else skip the hours you already spent. That’s not manipulation. That’s generosity. It’s how progress happens.
When we step into this stuff early, we’re the ones taking the hits. We’re the ones running into the friction first. We’re the ones making sense of the weird edges before they’re smoothed out. And eventually, when everyone else shows up, they’ll need clearer pathways than the ones we had. That’s the cycle. Early learners do the messy part so later learners don’t drown in it.
And the truth is, nobody knows what they’re doing right now. We’re figuring it out as we go. This is frontier energy. The map is still blank, and we’re drawing the first little pencil lines on it. Sharing that isn’t overstepping. It’s necessary. People forget that every major shift works this way. Something big changes, and a handful of people get curious early. Then they document. Then they teach. Then the world catches up.
If you’ve been hesitating because you don’t want to look like a cliché, you can drop that. If you’ve been quiet because you’re worried people will assume the worst, you can drop that too. We need people who are willing to show what they’re learning. We need people who aren’t afraid to be excited. Keep going. Keep sharing. Keep being curious out loud. That’s how the rest of the world eventually figures this stuff out.