Most people use AI to get answers faster. The people pulling ahead use it to get smarter. This is the first article in our Staying Curious series. It covers why the way you use AI matters, and the three tools and habits that turn it into a genuine learning partner.
Two ways to use AI
There are two ways to approach an AI tool. In the first, you ask, AI answers, and the output is good, but the thinking was borrowed. In the second, you ask, AI answers, and then you question the answer, go deeper and build your understanding alongside the output.
Both approaches produce something useful. Only the second leaves you more capable.
Why the output fades and the understanding stays
Once you close the laptop, the output is gone. The answer is used and forgotten. Understanding is different. Every time you think alongside AI instead of letting it think for you, you keep something after the session ends. Over time, that is what compounds your skills.
Your capabilities are the real advantage
Everyone now has access to the same tools. The advantage is no longer the tool itself. It is what you have built with it over time. Learning with AI compounds your skill in a way that using it only for answers never will. For a related view on where human judgment still matters, read Skin in the Game.
Three tools that turn AI into a learning partner
NotebookLM: from passive reading to active understanding
NotebookLM, from Google, reads the sources you upload, such as articles, PDFs, research and meeting notes, and becomes an expert on that material. Use it to learn rather than only to summarize:
- Generate an AI podcast between two hosts discussing your material, and listen to it like any other podcast.
- Create flashcards to test what you actually understand.
- Ask it to find the gaps or contradictions in what you have uploaded.
The shift is from passive reading to active understanding.
Perplexity: answers you can verify
Perplexity searches the web with AI, and every answer comes with cited sources you can check and follow. When something interests you, do not just accept the summary. Click the sources, follow one thread further and ask a follow-up question. The shift is from surface answers to verified understanding.
Claude Projects: a learning space that remembers
Claude Projects lets you upload your own documents, notes and reading material, and hold an ongoing conversation that builds on itself. After reading something, upload it and ask Claude to challenge your understanding, explain what you got wrong, set a scenario where you apply the concept, or create a quiz for you. Return to the same project as your thinking develops. The shift is from one-off answers to compounding conversations.
The habits matter more than the tools
The tools account for about 20% of the result. The habits are the other 80%. Start with three:
- After every AI conversation, ask one more question: “What am I still not understanding?”
- When something clicks, write it in your own words before you close the tab.
- Once a week, teach something you learned to someone else. If you cannot explain it, you do not know it yet. Hold a regular knowledge-sharing session with friends, family or colleagues, or share what you learn publicly.
Where to go next
The best learning tool is the one you use consistently, with curiosity and the intention to grow. The next article in the series looks at how leaders build a culture of curiosity, and the learning systems that keep a team growing after the first excitement fades. Continue with Staying Curious: Building a Learning Culture and System.
If you are wondering whether AI makes people less capable, The Illusion of Intelligence looks at what these tools are and how to build with them.