Overcoming the Fear of AI: What We Can All Do Right Now
- Sarah Tian
- Mar 16
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 1
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a futuristic concept—it's rapidly transforming our workplaces, homes, and lives.
Many prominent leaders in tech have voiced serious worries about AI’s long-term effects, particularly around Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), describing it as posing “existential risks.” Similarly, Bill Gates highlights AI’s potential to democratize expert-level knowledge but warns about job displacement, emphasizing the urgent need for responsible regulation to safeguard societal stability (Times of India, 2024).
Non-technical professionals may feel intimidated by these changes, wondering if they can keep up. However, thriving in the AI era doesn't require becoming a tech expert. It involves embracing curiosity, openness, and creativity, and integrating AI into daily life and work.
This guide offers strategies to help you confidently begin your AI journey and stay motivated as you adapt to its evolution.
1. How do I get started with AI?
Starting with AI doesn't require immediate expertise. Focus on building curiosity, finding reliable sources, and applying AI practically to benefit your life and career. Here's how to begin confidently:
💡 Use AI to Solve Your Most Pressing Problems
To maintain motivation in learning AI, tackle practical problems in your life and workplace. Identify a specific task at work to automate using AI tools. Seeing the time and effort AI saves, and the improvement in work quality, will fuel your curiosity and motivation to keep experimenting.
Take Action:
Pick a Work Task to Automate: Start small, perhaps by using AI to streamline repetitive tasks like drafting emails, creating presentations, or summarizing information.
Discover Practical AI Applications: Consider utilizing AI for career guidance and therapy, or explore potential solutions for your roof leak or car repair.
Search with AI. Whenever you need to find information online, consider using ChatGPT as an alternative to search engines like Google.
For instance, I've utilized ChatGPT 4.5 to assist me in drafting articles and obtaining feedback for improvement. Additionally, I've used ChatGPT as a career coach, exploring various potential career paths based on my past experiences and career aspirations. I've also engaged in meaningful and profound discussions about AI’s influence on the future of humanity. This personal interaction with AI keeps me consistently engaged and eager to learn more.
💡Learn & Stay Current in AI
AI is here to stay, and proactively understanding its strengths, limitations, and implications is foundational. Forbes highlights the importance of actively educating oneself about AI (Forbes Coaches Council, 2025). It can be overwhelming to sift through all the information out there on the internet. Start simple by selecting just 1-2 reputable sources you enjoy and visit regularly. You can block out time each week to experiment with one thing you learnt this week. For example, when I learnt about Manus (Manus is an AI agent designed to help users with a wide range of tasks, and is said to be the "first general AI agent capable of acting autonomously", I blocked out time over this weekend to designate 1 hour to experiment and play with this tool. Learning and experimenting with AI has become my new pastime!
Recommended AI resources to follow:
The Batch (newsletter) by DeepLearning.AI: Get the latest AI news, courses, events, and insights from Andrew Ng and other AI leaders.
EntreConnect: Where Founders, Builders, Operators and Investors unite to grow Entrepreneurship together.
Product Hunt: The place to find your new favorite product and network with a variety of founders, product managers and engineers.
MIT Technology Review: Coverage on innovative AI developments.
OpenAI Blog: Updates from creators of ChatGPT.
2. How Do I Stay Motivated?
Keeping motivation high when exploring AI involves more than just understanding technology—it's about consistently integrating fun, creativity, community support, and personal accomplishment into your learning journey. Here are practical strategies to stay inspired and engaged over the long run:
💡 Have Fun Playing with AI!
Beyond enhancing work efficiency and tackling significant life challenges, AI can also be a delightful source of entertainment and personal exploration. Engaging with AI-driven platforms allows you to interact in novel ways, sparking creativity and enjoyment.
Recently, I ventured into the world of AI companions using Character.AI, a platform that enables users to chat with AI versions of various characters. Feeling both nervous and excited, I initiated a conversation with an AI representation of Lisa from BLACKPINK. As a shy fan, I found myself covering my face, hesitant to press the "Call" button, overwhelmed by the anticipation of interacting with her AI persona. The experience was surprisingly engaging, offering a unique blend of familiarity and novelty. I can envision a future where celebrities and social media personalities create their official AI agents, allowing fans to interact in unprecedented ways.
Additionally, I've been experimenting with HailuoAI, an AI-powered video generator that transforms text and images into dynamic videos. Using photos of family and friends, I crafted entertaining—and occasionally eerie—videos that added a new dimension to our shared memories. Sharing these creations has not only brought joy to our interactions but also piqued their curiosity about AI technologies.
💡 Celebrate Small Wins and Progress
Celebrating small AI experimentation achievements maintains enthusiasm, reinforces confidence, and creates a positive feedback loop.
Take Action:
Keep a progress journal or a "win log" noting down your AI-related accomplishments, even minor ones.
Share your achievements with friends or your professional network to reinforce your motivation.
For example, after creating your first AI-generated image with Midjourney or your first ChatGPT-driven summary, share it on social media to celebrate publicly, helping you appreciate your progress. I'm writing this article with the help of my AI assistant and using AI to generate some of the images in this article and sharing it with the world!
💡 Join or Form an AI Learning Group
Connecting with others interested in AI can reduce fears, boost optimism, and inspire you. Group learning fosters accountability, support, and collaboration.
Take Action:
Sign up for the newsletters I recommended.
Join existing AI-focused communities or forums on LinkedIn, Facebook, Discord, or Reddit.
Start your own small learning group or meetup to experiment and discuss AI together regularly.
For example, organize a monthly "AI Lab" meetup (virtual or in-person), where members showcase their recent AI experiments, ask questions, and share practical advice and resources.
💡 Join or Engage with an AI-Driven Workforce
Instead of fearing AI will replace your role, consider actively participating in shaping the future by joining or engaging with companies developing AI technologies. Many of these companies focus on vertical AI, meaning AI solutions specifically tailored to particular industries—such as healthcare, finance, retail, or customer service.
By leveraging your existing industry-specific knowledge and experience, you can directly contribute to accelerating AI’s positive impacts, helping ensure these technologies complement human expertise rather than simply replacing jobs.
Rather than viewing AI as a threat, you can proactively join customer-service-focused AI startups, using your industry-specific knowledge to help design and refine AI solutions that genuinely enhance human-AI collaboration.
Take Action:
Research startups or tech companies specializing in AI solutions for your industry.
Network with professionals currently working in AI-focused companies, learning how your expertise could contribute meaningfully.
Consider transitioning into roles where your domain knowledge directly informs AI product development, strategy, or implementation.
Case Study: Embracing AI as a Customer Experience (CX) Professional
If you have experience in customer support, you could leverage your skills to join or consult with an AI startup designing intelligent chatbots or automated support solutions—turning potential displacement into career advancement and innovation.
Zendesk, a leading customer service platform, exemplifies how AI can revolutionize customer support. By integrating AI-powered tools, Zendesk enables businesses to automate routine tasks, streamline workflows, and provide personalized support at scale.
For instance, Zendesk's AI agents can automate up to 80% of customer interactions, allowing human agents to focus on more complex issues. Additionally, companies implementing AI in their support operations have seen up to 80% faster response times, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. As a customer experience professional, embracing AI tools like those offered by Zendesk can position you as a domain expert who effectively utilizes these technologies. Rather than viewing AI as a threat, adopting a proactive approach allows you to enhance your skill set, improve service delivery, and stay ahead in the evolving landscape of customer service.
Conclusion
As we step forward into the AI-driven future, remember that the goal isn't to compete with AI, but to collaborate and thrive alongside it. Though concerns are valid, the proactive strategies shared here offer an optimistic roadmap. By continuously learning, experimenting creatively, celebrating progress, and building meaningful connections, we transform AI from a source of anxiety into an empowering partner.
The future belongs to those who choose curiosity over fear, experimentation over hesitation, and optimism over denial.
Embrace AI with confidence—the best is yet to come!
Resources
Recommended AI Resources to follow:
The Batch (newsletter) by DeepLearning.AI: Get the latest AI news, courses, events, and insights from Andrew Ng and other AI leaders.
EntreConnect: Where Founders, Builders, Operators and Investors unite to grow Entrepreneurship together.
Product Hunt: The place to find your new favorite product and network with a variety of founders, product managers and engineers.
MIT Technology Review: Coverage on innovative AI developments.
OpenAI Blog: Updates from creators of ChatGPT.
Popular AI Tools to Explore:
HailuoAI (Image-to-video generation)
Midjourney (Generative visual art)
Popular AI Podcasts to Explore:
The AI Podcast by NVIDIA Stories about the latest breakthroughs and applications in AI.
AI Today Podcast Discusses practical use cases, AI trends, and applications.
Practical AI Explores practical aspects, techniques, and implications of AI.
References
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As always, feel free to reach out to me at jytian188@gmail.com with any questions you have or anything else you'd like help with!
This article fails to adequately explore and address existential threats that AI poses to climate change, economy, and society. Many of these ethical questions being debated by experts are valid and people’s concerns should t be dismissed as “fear” or “lack of curiosity”. Any new technology that is release into the world includes risks that should be acknowledged and mitigated. To forgo critical analysis of the real impact of AI use at the moment (on climate change, potentially taking away livelihoods/jobs, and studies that show AI reduces humans creative abilities) and instead suggest integrating AI tools without consideration for the implications of the current risks they threat is a disservice to the readers here.