The energy has shifted in 2025. You can feel it too, right? AI used to be this shiny side project, something people would experiment with in their spare time. Theres been a massive change. AI is now baked into the way work gets done. Some people like myself have run with it, attempting to automate their entire workflow and educate their teams on the many dos and donts. Others are still staring at their screens and wondering where to start.
The gap between those two groups is growing, and quickly. I have a secret to share, and this is where most people get it wrong: Closing the gap isnt about becoming a tech genius. Its about staying curious and getting scrappy.
The AI skills gap is widening, but heres a game plan to keep up.
1. Build AI fluency, not just prompt tricks
The first step to building AI fluency is learning how to prompt a chatbot. This is exactly where my own team began with our agencys weekly AI training program, coined Thursd-AI (very clever, I know).
In this stage, you build your skillset and learn what AI can actually do across your workflow, and how to structure your asks to get meaningful results. Its not a magic command per se, more of a collaboration mindset. And heres a pro tip: You can actually ask your AI chatbot how can I improve this prompt to get a more accurate/more detailed response?and it will tell you!
2. Pick one workflow and start automating
Dont overhaul everything at once. Start with one task you do often (summarizing docs, writing content, analyzing feedback) and let AI take a pass. Then refine it. The more you experiment with this, the faster youll get a feel for whats possible, and whats most realistic for you.
3. Follow the builders, not just the headlines
The news is relentlessly covering AI, but that doesnt mean these stories are always packed with value. The real insights, the kinds that will make you stand out, are not in the stories with catchy headlines. Seek out case studies, tutorials, and demos from people are using AI in the wild.
Follow technologists, no-code tinkerers, indie hackers, the companies making it happen, and people sharing real, tactical ways to apply AI today. A great place to start is OpenAI News, Google AI News, AI Foundations on YouTube, and Quantiouss Weekly Tech Roundup (yes, a shameless plug for my agencys tech newsletter).
4. Make AI a daily habit
The people staying ahead arent just using AI occasionally, theyre working with it every day. That means brainstorming with ChatGPT, creating reports with Perplexity, or turning text-to-image with Canva. Youve likely heard this once, and Ill say it again; You need to treat AI as a team member.
5. Focus on what AI cant replace
For now, ignore the news saying that AI is going to make us dumb. AI is not meant to make us lazy, its meant to allow us to take charge of our projects and our lives and empower us to be more powerful, more effective, and more creative. AI cannot replace soft skills, creative instincts, and emotional intelligencethis is where you come in. The more that AI handles the grunt work, the more you are empowered to use these skills.
Use AI to buy back your time, and use that time to get better at being you. Use your critical thinking skills, trust your instincts, and embrace your human curiosity and creativity, while AI handles the little details. You know, the little details that used to leave you in a time crunch and keep you from being your fully present, creative self.
The AI fluency gap isnt about who knows the most, its about who is willing to put in the work learning by trial and error. Youre never going to find a one-size-fits-all approach with AI. Stop waiting on a roadmap, and start building your own. In just a few months, youll be amazed at how much youve learned and how far youve come. The biggest risk here is sitting still. If youre still reading this, youre further along than you think.
Lisa Larson-Kelley is founder and CEO at Quantious.
