Will AI Make You Smart or Dumb? It Depends on How You Use It
Is AI making us smarter or just more dependent? In this blog, I break down why AI is not a magic wand but a smart intern — one that needs your guidance, feedback, and curiosity to truly work for you.
No Time to Read? Here's the Scoop
AI isn’t just another tool — it’s a smart, human-like intern. The way you work with it determines the quality of your output.
Be the Boss, Not the Bystander – AI needs your leadership: clear instructions, context, and feedback — just like a new teammate.
Expect Variability, Not Perfection – AI mimics human thinking. Don’t expect it to give the same result twice.
Use It to Learn, Not Skip Learning – For mastering anything (research, coding, writing), AI should assist, not replace your brain.
Read, Reflect, Then Use – Don’t skip the reading. Use AI to synthesize after you’ve absorbed and validated the content.
Projects Supercharge Context – Use ChatGPT or Claude Projects to build deeper understanding across interactions.
Ask Better, Get Better – The real skill? Asking the right questions. Curiosity and strong foundations are your superpowers.
Let’s Be Real About AI
Everywhere I turn — Twitter threads, news panels, startup teams — there are two dominant narratives about AI.
One says: “Don’t use AI. It’ll make you dumb.”
The other screams: “If you’re not using AI, you are dumb.”
AI Is Not Just a Tool — It's a Smart Intern
Let me be clear: AI is not a static tool. It's not a glorified calculator.
AI behaves more like a smart intern — talented but imperfect, full of potential but dependent on your input and supervision.
It won’t give you the same answer every time — and that’s not a bug. That’s human-like thinking.
You and I don’t write the same email twice, even when the topic is the same. AI works the same way.
What do you do with an intern?
You train them.
You give them clear instructions.
You provide resources and feedback.
You don’t expect perfect results on Day 1.
If you expect magic from AI without putting in effort — garbage in, garbage out.
This is the mindset shift most people miss.
Don’t Expect Magic. Expect a Learning Curve
The mistake people make? They dump a vague prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, like:
“Write a report on the food industry.”
And when the output feels shallow, they say: “AI is overrated.”
But AI can’t read your mind. It needs:
Clear objectives
Specific constraints
Contextual information
Corrections over time
If you don't invest in that guidance, you’ll always get average results.
Checkout my previous articles here:
Using AI for Research: Don’t Outsource Your Thinking
I see people outsourcing research entirely to AI — asking it to write reports, summaries, or market analysis, and then presenting that directly to teams or clients.
Big mistake.
Because when someone asks a follow-up question based on the research you made, you’re stuck. You haven’t read the sources. You don’t understand the reasoning. You're just reciting what the AI said.
My workflow?
Ask AI for a report or summary.
Read the citations.
Cross-check the facts.
Highlight the parts that matter to you.
Ask AI to summarize or structure it better — after you’ve understood it.
AI helps me speed things up — but I still do the thinking myself.
Real Example:
Instead of saying “Write about the restaurant industry,” try:
“Give me a competitive analysis of restaurants in Indiranagar, Bangalore serving Korean food with Google ratings 4+ and at least 100 reviews.”
That’s how you get meaningful, usable data — because you’re leading the research, not outsourcing it.
Using AI for Learning: It’s Your Tutor
If you’re trying to learn a new topic, AI can be a game-changer — especially in simplifying tough concepts.
But here’s the rule: Use AI to clarify, not to replace learning.
My learning workflow:
Ask AI to create a study plan with references.
Read the recommended articles or watch videos.
Come back with questions. Dig deeper with AI.
Build a feedback loop.
The more I understand, the better my questions get. And the better the questions, the smarter the AI seems. It’s a virtuous cycle — but only if I put in the effort.
Don’t let AI replace the grind. Let it support the grind.
The Real Superpower? Asking Better Questions
You’ll often hear this: “Prompt engineering is the skill of the future.”
Let me simplify that: Being curious is the real skill.
AI responds well when:
You ask specific, layered questions.
You give it constraints and context.
You break complex problems into smaller steps.
And to do that, you need knowledge. You need to read. You need to explore. If you don’t know what to ask, no AI in the world can help you.
Curiosity + clarity = quality AI output.
Use Projects to Build Long-Term Intelligence
If you’re not using the Projects feature in ChatGPT or Claude, you’re leaving a lot on the table.
Projects allow the AI to retain memory and context across conversations. It learns your tone, your patterns, your past questions — and gets better with each interaction.
That’s how you go from “this doesn’t feel like me” to “this is exactly what I was thinking.” The intern now becomes a teammate — one who understands your style, goals, and domain.
Why Foundations Still Matter
I’m not a professional coder. I can’t write programs without AI help. But I’ve been able to:
Ask AI for explanations
Debug with its help
Learn foundational concepts via YouTube and practice
Improve gradually through repetition
At first, I was frustrated when the AI gave broken or hallucinated code. But over time, I got better at spotting what’s wrong. Now I can fix things. That’s growth — with AI, not just because of it.
You still need to understand what’s going on under the hood. Otherwise, your confidence will collapse when AI stumbles.
How I Use AI to Write My Blogs
Here’s my actual process:
I pick a topic.
I open Voice Mode in ChatGPT.
I talk to it like a podcast — dumping thoughts, ideas, and structure.
I ask it to transcribe, clean up, and suggest improvements.
I refine the draft manually — adding or removing sections as needed.
I create an image using DALL·E or other tools based on the blog content.
This lets me retain my voice, but polish it with AI. And because I give it real context — my own thoughts — it sounds like me.
When I review a new AI tool, I use the tool first. I explore, test, note down my own pros and cons. Only then do I use AI to help write about it — using my experience as the core.
Final Thought: Don’t Let AI Shape Your Perspective
Don’t let AI define your voice, your thinking, or your workflow.
It’s here to help. But you’re still the driver.
Build your own perspective. Let AI support you, not replace you.
It’s a smart intern — treat it with that mindset. Guide it, teach it, challenge it.
And most importantly?
Stay curious.
That’s the real AI hack.