The Five Stages of Using AI

Most people engage with AI in stages. Some stop early, using it only for simple tasks. Others push further, discovering that AI can be more than an assistant—it can be a thought partner, a challenger, even an extension of their thinking. But that shift doesn't happen all at once. It’s a journey, driven by curiosity and a willingness to question what’s possible.

Over the past two years I've discussed this journey with many colleagues, friends, and even quite a few total strangers. Here's what I've learned about what the journey looks like for most.

Level One: Not Interested

Many people haven't engaged with AI at all. Maybe they've heard about it, but it seems unnecessary. Maybe it feels intimidating, or they assume it's not relevant to them. Either way, they don't see a reason to try it, so they don't.

This isn't about intelligence—it's about perception. A lot of people at this stage don't realize what's possible yet. If you're reading this and you know such a person—particularly one who is working age or younger—I highly encourage you to give them a little push, as remaining at this stage for much longer comes with significant risks. These risks include falling behind professionally as AI-augmented work becomes the norm and missing opportunities to develop skills that will be increasingly valuable in an AI-driven economy.

Level Two: Tried It, Didn't Get It

Others have given AI a shot—maybe they asked it a few questions, played around with ChatGPT, or tried a basic task. But they didn't see the value.

Sometimes, their expectations were off—they thought AI would be smarter than it is. Other times, they just didn't know how to ask the right questions to get something useful. This mismatch between expectations and reality often stems from popular media portrayals of AI as either magical or menacing.

Many people stop here, assuming AI isn't as powerful as people say. The challenge is that basic prompting often yields basic results, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that reinforces their initial skepticism.

In many ways, stopping at Level Two represents the greatest risk. At this level, a person has formed an opinion based on real-world experience—but that experience and the resulting point of view are simply incorrect. They're lulled into believing they've given AI a fair chance, when in reality they've barely scratched the surface. This is the equivalent of someone trying to use the internet in 1999, failing to find what they need, and concluding it has no value. The real risk isn’t just missing out on efficiency—it’s forming a limiting belief that prevents deeper exploration.

Level Three: Using AI for Basic Tasks

This is where things start to click. People at this level recognize that AI can make life easier—helping draft an email, summarize an article, brainstorm ideas. They ask simple, direct questions and get straightforward responses.

It's a tool, and they use it when it's convenient. They might reach for AI to save time on routine tasks or to get quick answers, much like using a calculator or spell-checker.

But here's the thing: AI is still just following instructions. It's reactive, doing exactly what it's told—nothing more. Most users stop at this level because they don't realize there's another way. The main challenge here is overcoming the utilitarian mindset that limits AI to being just another productivity app. If this is you, keep pushing ahead, as there is much more to discover.

Level Four: Working with AI as a Thought Partner

At this stage, people realize AI isn't just a task executor—it's something they can work with. The shift happens when they start providing better instructions, richer context, and more nuance.

Instead of saying 'write a job description', they might say 'I need a job description for a growth marketing role. The company is early-stage, so we need someone scrappy, comfortable with ambiguity, and able to scale from hands-on execution to strategy. It should sound engaging and attract ambitious candidates.'

The difference? AI now has something real to work with. In the world of AI, context is king.

This unlocks a whole new level of value:

• Better responses that feel relevant and useful.
• Deeper collaboration, where AI helps refine ideas instead of just executing tasks.
• A shift in working style, where AI becomes part of the creative and decision-making process.

At this level, AI stops just reacting—it starts shaping the way you work and think. It starts creating meaningful and measurable acceleration in your work and endeavors, and it feels good.

If you've reached this level, congratulations—you're ahead of the curve, and already experiencing benefits that most people haven't discovered yet. But I encourage you to keep pushing, because the jump from Level 4 to Level 5 isn't just a linear progression—it's an order of magnitude leap in what becomes possible.

Level Five: AI Changes How You Think

At the highest level, AI isn't just a tool—it's a way of thinking differently. People at this stage don't just use AI for efficiency; they use it to challenge their assumptions, test new perspectives, dramatically accelerate their output, and approach problems in ways they wouldn't have considered on their own.

At this level, you may begin to discover thinking techniques like:

• Perspective Shifting – Seeing problems from multiple angles quickly, like turning a complex object in your hands to examine all sides.
• Zooming In and Out – Moving smoothly between big-picture thinking and detailed work without losing your way.
• Time Compression – Accomplishing in minutes what once took days, allowing rapid testing of ideas.
• Insight Multiplication – Each conversation with AI builds on the last, creating compound growth in understanding.
• Blending Worlds – Combining ideas from different fields that wouldn't normally connect, creating something new.
• Mental Mirrors – Using AI to spot your own blind spots and biases, like having a coach for your thinking.
• Assumption Testing – Quickly pressure-testing your ideas from multiple viewpoints to find weaknesses and strengths.
• Thought Partnership – Moving beyond having AI as a tool to having it as a collaborative thinking partner.

The shift to Level 5 is profound—not because AI gets smarter, but because the way you think changes. It's like gaining a second and third cognitive gear, letting you push ideas further, faster, and with less friction.

The Path to Level Five

Most people can reach Level 3 without much effort. Level 4 requires a shift in approach and deliberate practice with providing context and nuance.

But Level 5? Getting to Level 5 takes time, practice, and active exploration—trying different approaches to see what works, what doesn't, and why. The growth is driven by intense curiosity and open-mindedness about the AI's capabilities and limitations.

The Paradox of Level Five Thinking

As we journey through these five stages, a curious paradox emerges. Many worry about cognitive atrophy—that relying on AI will weaken our natural thinking abilities. But those who reach Level 5 discover something different: while certain mechanical skills may indeed diminish, other, more uniquely human capabilities flourish.

The skills that atrophy tend to be those we've already been outsourcing for generations: memorization, routine calculations, and basic information retrieval. But in their place, we develop enhanced abilities to:

• Articulate our thoughts with precision and nuance.
• Frame problems in ways that leverage both human and machine intelligence.
• Synthesize disparate viewpoints and information sources.
• Recognize patterns across seemingly unrelated domains.
• Evaluate the quality and relevance of AI-generated content.

In the future, our contributions to work, society, and creative endeavors won't be measured by how much we can accomplish alone, but by how effectively we can communicate our intentions, refine our thinking in collaboration with AI, and apply uniquely human judgment to the results. The most successful people won't be those who resist AI assistance, but those who embrace it as an extension of their cognitive toolkit while cultivating two essential counterbalances: disciplined focus and deliberate intention.

This brings us to perhaps the greatest challenge of Level 5: as your capabilities expand by orders of magnitude, so too does the potential for distraction. When you can explore countless paths simultaneously, the question becomes not "what can I do?" but "what should I do?" Focus—always important—becomes absolutely critical. The ability to maintain direction amid infinite possibilities may well be the defining skill of the AI-augmented thinker.

This isn't a story about machines replacing human thought. It's about humans learning to think in new ways, augmented by machines. The journey from Level 1 to Level 5 isn't about surrendering our thinking to AI; it's about expanding what's possible when we think together.

Remember: The AI revolution isn't just about new technology—it’s about new ways of thinking. The question isn’t whether AI will transform work and creativity, but who will master the discipline of thinking alongside it.