OVERWHELMED BY AI UBIQUITY? YOU’RE NOT TOO LATE TO GET STARTED – HERE’S HOW.
Net/ Summary:
If it feels like AI came out of nowhere, is suddenly everywhere, and you somehow missed the bus—you’re right about the first two, and dead wrong about the third. While AI adoption has skyrocketed—faster than any technology in modern history—actual usage still varies widely by industry, age, and education. I’ve recently taken a deep dive into AI’s capabilities, and I’m here to tell you: it’s not too late to catch up. You can start using these powerful tools today.
The best way to learn AI is to use it. Tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and my favorite, Google Gemini, offer free versions and premium options (around $20/month) with expanded capabilities. The key is not to treat them like Google search boxes, but like smart collaborators.
Give AI context. Tell it who you are (e.g., “a nonprofit strategist”), how you’ll use the output (e.g., “to draft a fundraising plan”), and what tone you prefer (e.g., “professional but conversational”). Upload background documents and relevant data. Ask it to help you brainstorm, reword emails, rewrite resumes, analyze data, or even generate cartoons from photos.
Don’t know where to begin? Try:
- Editing a recent cover letter and resume (include the job description in your uploads)
- Rewriting an important email in a friendlier tone
- Summarizing a report
- Asking how AI could help with a work or personal challenge
I highly recommend reading the books The AI Driven Leader, by Geoff Woods and The Experimentation Machine, by my friend Jeff Bussgang. It you want to jump start your learning from these books, consider reading Wood’s last Chapter 14 “”Go from 0 to 1: The Simple Path to Deliver Value with AI” and the Appendix “Prompt Library” and Bussgang’s Appendix A “Prompt Tips and Examples” and D “AI Apps Unwrapped” which contains a list of dozens of AI tools by usage category (e.g. “General Assistance,” “Get Creative,” and “Have Fun.” ) first. There are also dozens of online courses on how to effectively and efficiently use AI, including Google’s AI Prompt Engineering Course on Coursera or – if you are as impatient as I – first watch the YouTube video “Google’s 9 Hour AI Prompt engineering Course in 20 Minutes.”
The Details:
YES, RECENT ADOPTION OF AI IS INCREDIBLY FAST
Though the term “Artificial Intelligence” dates back to 1955 (thanks to computer scientist John McCarthy), generative AI only went mainstream in 2022 with tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2. Since then, AI has been adopted faster than the personal computer, internet, or smartphone:
And if you read almost any publication or news source, you are seeing articles about artificial intelligence almost every day. I asked Chat GPT to estimate the number of articles about AI in three leading US papers and it reported the following:
IF YOU HAVEN’T STARTED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
As part of the research for his book, The AI Driven Leader, Geoff Woods interviewed 200 US based executives in mid-to-late 2024 regarding their belief in and usage of AI. If you haven’t yet begun your AI journey, his results may make you feel better:
Research data also shows dramatic differences in usage and frequency by age/ generation and level of education:
Even if you haven’t started using AI, you have a Graduate Degree, and are less than 30 years old, at the time this analysis was created, less than half of your peers were using AI at work and far fewer were using AI outside of work “every day last week” – between 8.3 and 13.4 percent. Note that this data if from August 2024, so given the rapid growth of AI adoption, these numbers are clearly lower than what we would find today, but I still believe they are “directionally accurate.”
I was also able to find data for AI usage by job title and/ or occupation and was particularly struct by the low level of AI usage in “Sales.” I have found AI (and Gemini specifically) to be very helpful for pre-qualifying client prospects, sorting through hundreds of web sites and data sources in minutes.
AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT:
That said, more recent research(including some 2025 data) shows a high degree of usage in several US industries, including pharmaceuticals (95%), insurance (90%),real estate (87%), and even nonprofits (82%) although the level or frequency of “usage” is not specified in this data. But if you are working in one of these industries and haven’t started exploring how AI can improve your productivity, hopefully this will encourage you to do so.
GETTING STARTED
The best way to get started is to actually start using AI tools like CHAT GPT, Microsoft’s Co-Pilot, and Google’s Gemini (my favorite). Each have free versions or you can get expanded capacity and capabilities for around $20 a month. Chat with AI more like you are talking to an expert or a thought partner than your traditional Google search prompts. Give it context by explaining who you are (e.g. “an independent consultant,”), how you are going to use the output (e.g. “writing a blog article”) and what tone you want the output to be written in (e.g. “professional, yet conversational”). Use the “+” symbol next to the prompt input to upload as much information as possible to provide additional context. If you don’t know what to start with, ask AI to edit a recent resume or cover letter (include the job description in your uploads), convert a favorite photo into a cartoon, re-write an email in a different tone, or even asking AI how it can help you with a work of personal challenge.
I highly recommend reading the books The AI Driven Leader, by Geoff Woods and The Experimentation Machine, by my friend Jeff Bussgang. It you want to jump start your learning from these books, consider reading Wood’s last Chapter 14 “”Go from 0 to 1: The Simple Path to Deliver Value with AI” and the Appendix “Prompt Library” and Bussgang’s Appendix A “Prompt Tips and Examples” and D “AI Apps Unwrapped” which contains a list of dozens of AI tools by usage category (e.g. “General Assistance,” “Get Creative,” and “Have Fun.” first. There are also dozens of online courses on how to effectively and efficiently use AI, including Google’s AI Prompt Engineering Course on Coursera or – if you are as impatient as I – first watch the YouTube video “Google’s 9 Hour AI Prompt engineering Course in 20 Minutes.”
A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS:
As much as I love AI (some might say “obsessed”), it is incredibly important to realize it’s limitations. You cannot think about AI as a “set and forget” research assistant or thought partner. Although AI continues to evolve and improve it’s accuracy, most responses/ reports will contain some errors, know in the industry as “hallucinations.” Therefore, it is important to:
- Always reality check any AI output. If something appears incorrect, it most likely is.
- Ask the AI tool to provide sources of information provided, and double check these too.
- Provide the AI tool with corrective feedback when you discover errors. This will make it “smarter” and improve future content.
- Realize that the AI tool “learns” from any information you upload, so consider it publicly available data. Make sure to check with you company or clients before uploading any potentially sensitive information.
- Make sure you have transformed the output into your own voice, as more educated consumers of AI can now easily spot “cut and paste” AI generated content.
- Give the AI tool credit for information you receive from it.
I have also found it helpful to try the same prompt with several tools. As an example, I recently asked Chat GPT, Gemini and Perplexity to sort through hundreds of company websites and IRS Form 990’s to identify those Greater Boston companies and foundations who were most likely to support and contribute to a nonprofit client. Gemini “won” hands down. Not only was it much faster (literally minutes instead of hours), but it also included text summaries of the data along with charts that could be instantly uploaded to Google Sheets.
Regarding point 6 above, all of the data in the table and charts above was collected by Gemini.
You’re Not Behind—You’re Right on Time
AI’s ubiquity may feel overwhelming, but it’s also an invitation. Whether you’re running a social venture, advising policymakers, or leading in a loyalty-driven enterprise, this is your moment to experiment, learn, and lead with AI.
Not by watching from the sidelines. By jumping in.
