Start Using AI Without Feeling Left Behind

There’s a strange thing happening with AI right now. Everywhere you look, somebody seems to be using it to build websites, write code, create businesses, make videos or automate their work. Meanwhile, plenty of people are sitting there thinking, “I wouldn’t even know what to ask it.”

If that sounds familiar, this is for you. You don’t need to understand artificial intelligence, be good with computers, learn coding or become some kind of tech wizard. You just need to start talking to it.

The “I Don’t Know How” Barrier Has Changed

For a long time, having an idea and actually being able to build it were two very different things. You might have wanted to create a website, automate something, edit a video or start a business, but eventually you’d hit the same wall: “I don’t know how to do that.” Quite often, that was where the idea stopped.

AI has started knocking holes in that wall. It doesn’t magically give you every skill you’ll ever need. It gives you somewhere to go when you don’t know what to do next.

And I’m certainly not coming at this from a technical or academic background. I left high school at the start of Year 11, I don’t have a university degree, and I still work as a machinery operator on a mine site. I didn’t grow up coding, building websites or understanding automation. Most of this stuff was completely outside my wheelhouse.

Yet building OXFX has involved creating a website, working with trading platforms, automation, code, images, videos, troubleshooting and plenty of things I simply didn’t know how to do when I started. I didn’t suddenly become a web developer, programmer or IT technician. What changed was that “I don’t know how” stopped being the end of the conversation.

When I reach something I don’t understand, I can ask “How do I do this?” and keep moving. Sometimes that means asking another question. Sometimes it means taking a screenshot and saying, “Mine doesn’t look like that. What do I click?” Sometimes it means making a complete dog’s breakfast of something and starting again. But things that previously would have been beyond my skill set suddenly became possible.

AI didn’t give me all those skills. It gave me a bridge to them.

Just Talk to It

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they need to learn how to use AI before they can use AI. You don’t need a perfectly engineered prompt. You can literally start with:

“I’ve never really used AI before and I’m not very confident with computers. Can you help me get started?”

If you want to build something, tell it that. “I want to build a website, but I know absolutely nothing about building websites. Take me through it one step at a time.”

If the answer makes no sense, say “Explain that more simply.” If it throws ten steps at you and your brain leaves the building, say “Give me the first step and wait for me.” If something on your screen looks different, take a screenshot and show it.

Don’t worry about talking to AI correctly. Explain what you’re trying to achieve, give it some background and keep the conversation going. You don’t have to adapt yourself to AI. Make AI adapt to you.

Work With It, Don’t Blindly Trust It

AI can be incredibly useful, but it can also be wrong. It can misunderstand you, use outdated information or confidently wander off in completely the wrong direction.

So question it. Push back. Check important information and give it more context when it gets something wrong. AI shouldn’t replace your judgement. Think of it as giving your brain a much bigger toolbox.

You’re still holding the tools.

Start With Something Real

You could spend the next six months watching videos about AI and still feel like you’re standing at the starting line. A better way is to pick something you actually want to do: build a website, learn Excel, edit a video, plan a holiday, start a side business, learn to code, organise your finances or finally tackle that idea you’ve been putting off.

Then open AI and type:

“I want to do this, but I don’t know where to start. Help me.”

That’s enough.

You’ll make mistakes. You won’t understand everything immediately. Occasionally you’ll end up somewhere completely different from where you intended. But the biggest change AI has created isn’t that everyone suddenly knows how to do everything.

It’s that not knowing how is no longer such a good reason not to try.

You don’t need to catch up. You don’t need to become an AI expert. You don’t even need to know what you’re doing yet.

You just need somewhere to start.

And you just started.